Evening star., 1933-09-24

The penalty Of failure to judge prop
erly the effect OF a mountain spur.
valley or gap on the wind current for
even an instant may result in a forced
landing in the worst possible country.
Airplane pilots whenever possible give
the widest berth to rugged mountain
country. 1t is bad business for those
who fly. The soarer pilot, however,
must seek the rugged and broken wilds
and there pit his brain and skill against
the utmost difficulties nature can set
in his path. He must court deliber-
ately and overcome without the aid OF
a motor the very dangers which air
plane pilots, with powerful engines to
assist them, seek to avoid. He must
scar like the eagle or hawk, but lacks
the birds ability to fly cut of danger
or to alight with safety in the toughest
and most heavily forested terrain.
1t is not only the desire for one of
the most blood-Warming of the sports
open to man, however, which animates
the soaring pilot. He is a pioneer on
the frontier of human progress. More
of the fundamental lessons of flight can
be learned from gliding and soaring,
followers of the sport believe, than
from any other form of flying. Every
flight ends in what to the airplane pilot
is a motorless forced landing Every
instant of the flight represents all
overcoming of forces of nature which
must be OWNED rather than seen.
Soaring, in many respects. represents
the highest development of the art of
flying.
Soaring in the Blue Ridge country,
except under the most favorable condl-
tions, is a sport beyond the attainment
of any but the most seasoned glider
pilots. There are few pilots in the
United States capable of soaring under
such conditions as were encountered by
Richard c. du Pont when he made his
magnificent 122 emile flight from the
extreme southern end of the proposed
Shenandoah National Park to Frederick,
Md, or. on the previous day. by Emer-
son Mehlhose who slope scared" sc
miles, and du Pont, who rode the
thermals" for 46 miles across country.
Local Men to Soar.
Members of the du Pont glider ex-
pedition which has been in the Blue
Ridge country for the past week will be
rejoined today by number of Wash
ingtons most advanced g.iGer pilots and
pioneers in the Blue Ridge section.
Among the local people who were ex-
pccted to fly today, weather conditions
permitting. are Don M. Hamilton,
EIIltSJ opIIlh, idNIClCC
and Burton Brooks. They plan to fly
from Big Meadows, on top of the Blue
Ridge in about the center of the Shen-
andoah National Park area.
Net only is gliding of this type a
thrilling and exacting sport, but it is
one of the most healthful recreations
imaginable The true glider pilot, bent
on making records. must stay for days,
possibly weeks, in the mountain country
awaiting those ideal conditions neces-
sary for duration or long range soaring.
Such hours are infrequent and feeting.
If you have never watched the haul
ing of a glider to a mountain top
launching place, its assembly in wind,
and the recovery after the flight, often
from a point many miles away in the
fiat country below, you may find it diff
cult to visualize the labor involved in
this graceful and beautiful sport.
It is the hope of the amateur glider
plo-s who now are engaged in shooting
at new records in the nearby mountains
that they may be speeding the day when
gliding in this country, as it IS in Ger
many, will be a sport in which every
large college will participate. According
to Gus Haller, the first American glider
r,i1ot To undergo A course of training in