WE STUMBLED upon a news story just waiting for investigation last month while looking for comments on our "USHPA Name Change" article. As an integral part of our research we had gone out to Gory Pains GliderPort to get some pilot reaction. Whoa, stop. GliderPort?
We thought the same Pie readers. GliderPort? Well, apparently that's what they call them in California. We only have regular schools & hills here, but in California you get GliderPorts too. We had a good snoop around thinking maybe we could steal the idea and export it back to Europe and for a few fleeting moments we imagined a shiny new "Pie in the Sky" GliderPort, something with lots of shiny chrome maybe. The dream was short lived, however, as we set about understanding the differences between the traditional school & a simple hill versus the shiny new, 21st century GliderPort.
In a few short minutes we had some of the main differences listed. At a GliderPort you get coffee machines, clearly marked parking, R/C planes, queues, clearly marked parking, legal waivers and all the spectators you could wish for. Did we mention the car parking? Now we're metropolitan europeans and we're used to fast change and innovation, but we were truly amazed at this new "learning" concept.
"Why would anyone want to go to a stinky old hill with a few other students, a couple of instructors and an old van when you could come and fly somewhere like this", said Paul Gutbucket, a student. "I think the old ways of learning are over, man", he continued, "I can learn here in comfort and without a care in the world. If it starts raining, like last weekend, I can nip over to my car, it's that red one, and grab my umbrella in 10 seconds. My hair wouldn't even get wet, and if the rain really sets in, it's only a 3 minute drive to my sofa from here".
"Here at the GliderPort I'm surrounded by friends and family offering encouragement from the sidelines", he carried on, "and there are literally hundreds of other pilots here who I can learn from and they're all more than happy to answer my questions and help me along."
By now we were beginning to feel old. Maybe the world had moved on and left us behind, as this just didn't compare to our learning experiences of many years ago. We had been used to the old training model, simply jumping in an old van with two instructors & five other students. In those days, you just drove for 2 hours to a massive hill in the middle of nowhere and had approximately 50 sq. miles each to screw up in. In the new world, however, with convenience foods and data delivery to your video enabled mobile phone, everything has to be within 10 minutes of your doorstep.
Even, it seems, the peace and quiet of the distant mountains.
After several hours getting to understand this new experience, we only had one question left unanswered. GliderPort Rules 5-7 state, "One glider in the window at a time, Blow a whistle when entering the window & No turning or loitering in the window." Now here at Pie we know what a window is, we have them in our houses and our cars, but this was new to us. We've checked and we can't find any on our local hills and, after a brief search, not one of us carries any in our flying kit. If anyone out there knows where we can get a suitable window so that we can start GliderPort Flying, please let us know.
Pie in the Sky
Funnier than the 1982 "Airplane II" sliding door scene
Funnier than the 1982 "Airplane II" sliding door scene