Sunday, October 29, 2006
On silent wings
Those who have tried it say paragliding is the closest thing to flying like a bird.
Mark Taylor | The Roanoke Times
Paraglider pilot Danny Hart begins his descent toward the landing zone after his flight.
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EAGLE ROCK -- The perfect conditions come on a cool early autumn afternoon.
"We're going to fly this afternoon," Larry Dennis excitedly tells a friend over the phone.
Within 90 minutes, Dennis reaches the Botetourt County ridge top from which he and his paragliding buddies launch their colorful, silent craft at every opportunity.
Allen Walker of Salem is already in the air, gliding back and forth along the ridge.
Dennis, a 59-year-old Roanoke physician who lives in Fincastle, has been flying for nine years. Today, as always, he is eager. But he doesn't rush. Carelessness can lead to mistakes, and mistakes aren't good 1,000 feet above the valley floor.
Finally strapped into his harness, Dennis gives a pull on his wing, which is neatly laid out on the ground. The wing rises and fills with air.
And then Dennis is running off the mountain.
He glides downward for a moment. Then he hits an upward-flowing thermal and is rising.
Soon, he is up with Walker. Fifteen minutes later they are joined by Danny Hart of Salem, who hoots at his cheering children each time he rushes by the launching area.
"For thousands of years, people have looked at birds and thought, 'I wish I could do that,' " says Dennis, whose dream to be a fighter pilot was dashed by less-than-perfect vision. "This is as close as you can get."
Dennis has flown for as long as three hours. Not today.
The sun is dropping, so the men prepare to begin their downward spiral toward the landing field far below.
Walker sees something. It is a bald eagle, gliding on these same thermals as it migrates south.
"We flew next to each other down the ridge," Walker says reverently after landing. "It was a pretty spiritual experience."
It always is.
