2006 March (529kB) - Pacific Soaring Council

I know how it feels to fly again when your body says;
"Don't do it." I threw up on my first flight after ejecting
from the RF-4. After ejecting from the F-111, every fiber
in my body screamed, "don't do it, don't be a fool, they
offered you a ground job, take it." I stuck with it and I'm
glad I did. Truth is, I would have dropped that F-111
without a second thought, but I was building a sailplane
and I knew if I chickened out on military flying, I would
probably never fly the Duster.
So, I'm an admitted coward, right. Not so, the coward
runs from his fears. I think it takes courage to face your
fear and learn ways to deal with it. Fear is a natural
emotion, fear is what kept us from playing in traffic when
we were young, that and the fear of what our mother
would do, if you survived the traffic. When Kenny
Bregleb was attempting to break the world land speed
record, he was haunted by a reoccurring dream where
he saw himself dying in a flaming ball of twisted
wreckage. It got so bad that he finally went to see a
shrink about it. After listening patiently to Kenny's dream,
the shrink told him, "there's nothing wrong with you and
if you keep driving that race car you ARE going to die in
a flaming ball of twisted wreckage."
I remember one day in Laos, we were doing a road
reconnaissance on a little dirt road that was part of the
Ho Chi Min trail. We were at 500 feet, 420 knots,
cameras on, things going OK. Our road followed a little
river and up ahead I could see the road and river went
into a canyon (fear factor 1). To make things more
interesting, I started to see tracer rounds coming by the
cockpit (fear factor 2). My pilot shoved in the power as
we entered the canyon doing 600 knots (fear factor 3).
The canyon walls rose sharply and, in a heart beat, they
towered over us a good 500 feet (fear factor 4). My
pucker factor was getting out of control as I started biting
button holes in my seat cushion and the little voice
started in with the only phrase it knew, "you're going to
die." Up ahead I could see that our little road and river
made a sharp turn to the left, and so did the canyon (fear
factor 5). My pilot stood her on the left wing and pulled
about 5 G's (fear factor 6). We made the turn and didn't
hit the far wall of the canyon. Then I saw that our little
road and river was making a hard right turn (fear factor
7). We rolled from a 90 degree left bank, immediately
into a 90 degree right bank, pulling 5 G's in both turns,
with nothing but canyon walls on both sides (fear factor
10). OK, boss, that's the end of our assigned task, GET
THE HELL OUT OF HERE.
on the rocks, but you should not fear them. When on the
rocks, we are in fact, very close to instant death. So how
do we handle our fear, what do we do when the little
voice says, you’re going to die? It took years, but I have
taught my little voice a new phrase, it now says; "If you
don't follow the rules, you're going to die."
When on the rocks, we must be thinking about the wind,
sunny side of the hill, hot rocks, sharp pinnacles, and
deep canyons that will funnel the lift upward. We must
follow the rules. Keep the speed up. Don't circle until
you fly by once and check the air. Always have an
escape route. There's nothing wrong with being
concerned when flying near the rocks. You need to have
a healthy respect for them. If you play on the rocks and
don't follow the rules, the little voice is right, you ARE
going to die.
If you are new to soaring or just haven't felt comfortable
chatting with the squirrels, I recommend you fly with an
experienced mountain man and then ease into it, at
whatever level you are comfortable with. You must push
the edge of your comfort zone though, or you will never
progress to the highest level, that of "Rock Polisher
Extraordinaire." In the western part of the United
States, I do not believe you can be a successful cross
country pilot without excellent rock polishing credentials.
See you on the sunny side of the rocks, JJ Sinclair
JJ Sinclair retired from the Air Force in 1974 after 22
years of service. After retiring, JJ established an FAA
Certified Glider Repair Station in Placerville, California,
and operated that facility for over 20 years. He has flown
a 1000K zig-zag in his LS-7 as well as a 1000K triangle
in his Nimbus-3, but takes more pride in having flown
Silver, Gold and Diamond Badge Flights in the wooden
Duster that he constructed in 1973.
Some of us (most, I think) experience fear in our
soaring. It usually is associated with slope soaring. We
call it, getting on the rocks, rock polishing, talking to the
squirrels, counting pine cones, and other catchy
phrases. I do know a few soaring pilots who are afraid of
the rocks, and with good reason. We just buried a damn
good pilot that hit the rocks.
I don't think you should be doing anything in a sailplane
that you aren't comfortable with, but you can't be a
successful cross country pilot without using the rocks. I
don't think you should ever be completely comfortable
13