Russ, soaring instructor extraordinaire, got this brilliant idea that we should take photos via from the cockpit of the 2-33 while boxing the wake. This training exercise is used to move the glider around the aircraft turbulence while keeping the plane in sight. Sounds like an easy photo shoot, right!
Well in smooth air it would have been! However, we didn’t count on the thermals kicking off quite so soon. We bounced across the sky as if we’d gone rodeo. And taking photos with ones head slamming against the canopy, proved interesting.
Worse yet was the landing. We hauled freight toward the end of runway with one wing down when Russ said, “I’m slipping it in.”
I cried, “For Pete sake! We’re coming in HOT!”
Even with the extreme speed, bouncing glider, and leaning wing, we actually landed short of the runway and skid to a stop. Later when Russ examined the photos, he commented, “I noticed you got one on our landing!”
I laughed. “I wasn’t going down without one last photo!” A forensic idea, you might say.
Incline your ear to me; Rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! Psalm 31:2
