Oct - Rcsoaring.com

The FerengiRules of SoaringBy Peter Carr, WB3BQO@localnet.comMany of us have enjoyed the variousStar Trek series. The characters, suchas Spock and Seven of Nine, hold ourinterest to this day. Cloaked in all theintriquing gadgets and stunning visualsare some very profound pieces of advise.For example, when Spock departs, heusually says, “live long and prosper”. It’shard to argue with advise like that.And so it was that I found myself at theflying field not long ago. It was the usualcontest between my sailplanes and thethermals and I was looking for someguidance. As you can probably attest,the business of staying aloft by remotecontrol cries out for guidance.You may have been fascinated bythe Ferengi of the Deep Space Nineseries. For them “Profit” wasn’t amotivation, it was a religion. And, aswith all good religions, this one hadrules. They are listed on the Internet athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_Aquisition. I read through the rules anddecided that there must be a hiddenmessage. After looking a little further Ifound that the author of the Rules wasIra Steven Behr, the Executive Producerof the series. Rumor has it that Ira wasalso a sailplane pilot. It seems that Irawas looking for quidance about soaringand developed the Rules while battlingturbulence along the eastern edge ofthe Rockies. It’s amazing what you’ll doto distract your mind when the air-sickbag is full. Now we know that sailplanepeople, whether full size or models, havea problem communicating their passionto unbelievers. Ira decided to substitutethe words “soaring” and “thermals” for“aquisition” and “profit.” This was howhe enhanced the TV series while helpinghis fellow pilots. While there are over 200Rules, it seems that they were not allwritten in sequence. Here, paraphrased,are the ones of greatest interest to us.* Once you have acquired a thermal....never give it up.* Never allow family to stand in the wayof flying.* A man is only worth the sum of hissailplanes.* Keep you ears open to the thermalsensortone.* Small details at the pilots briefing leadto big risks.* Opportunity plus instinct equals lift.* Soaring is eternal.* A thermal is a thermal... until a betterone comes along.* A thermal pilot without a thermal is nopilot at all.* Thermals are not guaranteed.* Never place friendship above good lift.* A wise man can hear lift in the wind.* Never make fun of a pilots sailplane.* Nothing is more important than yourhealth... except thermaling.* It never hurts to suck up to the ContestDirector.There you have it, my friends. You nowhave words to fly by. The next time youwatch Star Trek on TV keep in mind thatthere may be more to the plot than youimagine.Live long and thermal.nOctober 2008 65