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THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday August 19 1989 Outlook op Lifestyle Sailplaning offers a unique calming experience I always used to wonder how a glider or sailplane to use the preferred term ever got off the ground and into the air No motor no fuel no propeller Now I know First you find a nice flat hilltop with a sharp drop off Next you arrange for a low from a real airplane one with motor fuel propeller and tow rope Then you clamber into the sleek narrow sailplane sit behing the pilot and buckle up The tow plane heads down the runway to the sharp and yikes you re What s it like In a sense it must be something like the days bet Ween the two world wars when people would pay for short spins in twoseat airplanes just to ex flight even though they would end up back at their starting point Similarly today sailplanes seldom travel anywhere What they offer is the novel experience of flight the fragile craft kept aloft by air currents The experience is smooth and somehow calming Those who seek excitement have to be satisfied with three passing moments see ing the ground disappear suddenly at the edge of the takeoff hill hearing a slight thud when the sailplane pilot releases the 200foot rope connecting his craft to the tow plane and touching down on the runway at the end WRIGHT STUFF A bit of gliding history Those aviation pioneers Wilbur and Or ville Wright built and flew their first glider in the year before their first powered flight at Kitty Hawk C Orville became the specialist in gliding Wilbur in powered flight Recreational gliding developed during the 1920s in Germany whose aircraft industry under the terms of the Treaty of Ver sailles wasn allowed to construct motorized aircraft Wolfgang an enthusiast moved to New York in 1930 and set out to find a suitable location concentrated on the Finger Lakes region in the centre of the state Just west of the summer home of famed author Samuel Clemens Mark Twain for JahnvincB Bulk Foods FOR ALL YOUR BAKING NEEDS OPEN DAYS MOUNTAIN Of Your Dependable Home Cleaning Service Specializing In House Cleaning For Particular People bin Bonded US FOR A FREE ESTIMATE 8761672 or many years he found a high flat called Hams Hill some 1 feet above the broad flat valley Once the airstrip had been developed Harris Hill quickly became recognized as the capital of the world The three Schweizer brothers of became the leading designers and builders of sailplanes During the Second World War Harris Hill was taken over by the military and crews were trained there to operate large troop carrying gliders After the war interest in gliding grew rapidly and tens of thousands of spectators were attracted to Hams Hill each year for the Na tional Soaring Championships TOP OF THE HILL Today s visitors Harris Hill by taking Exit from Route 17 a major throughway traversing the southern tier of New York State and then taking a poorly marked route to the top of the hill That s what we did on an over cast and frequently rainy Sunday afternoon recently At the small terminal building atop Harris Hill a sign advertises flights of minutes duration for the equivalent of Canadian If that seems expensive remember that it has to cover the cost of the power plane that tows each sailplane aloft The sailplanes pilots themselves are amateurs who love soanng and hope only to recover some of their expenses My pilot was Martin Green a middleaged physicist originally Norwich England and a enthusiast ever since his undergraduate years there Lifting the plastic canopy of his twoseat GrobAstir sailplane Green show ed me how to wedge myself into the rear seat while he climbed into the cockgit a much less awkward manoeuvre than my entry had been With no preliminaries often than fastening the safety harness we were ready and the tow plane started down the runway At one instant I was marvelling it how close to the ground we were At the next having suddenly left the run way I was amazed to see the valley 1 700 directly below UP AND AWAY The tow plane lifted us in five minutes to an altitude of feet according to one of the gauges facing me before Green released the rope On a clear day the pilot said it s customary to soar to about feet to see a panorama of all six of the Finger Lakes But because of the overcast Green said we could fly no higher into the wild grey yonder Briefly he demonstrated his sailplane s capacity to bank to either side to climb and to dive We flew at a fairly steady speed of knots or km per hour Without much thermal lift a sailplane loses altitude at the rate of about feet per minute There s nothing scary about the slow descent but it did bring us back to Harris Hill only minutes after takeoff after a flight that was silky smooth and blessedly silent Aircraft it has always seemed to me are the most beautiful of man made machines and the modern sailplane smooth strong made of and carbon compounds with its slender fuselage and long thin wings is no exception FLYING HIGH The altitude record for a sailplane is about feet much higher than subsonic commercial planes fly although Green said that the record for the Hams Hill area is 16 leet In competition sailplanes have achieved speeds of about km per hour flown near km stop and stayed aloft for more than eight hours at a time Most sailplane flights of course are shorter slower and end up ex where they started So despite their smoothness and silence sailplanes offer no real prospect for conventional point travel especially since there is normally enough space for only one passenger Let regard them then as ex actly what they are loads of fun Visitors to Hams Hill can take flights daily until mid September weather permitting and on weekends the rest of the year Call 7340641 to inquire about flight conditions For spectators there s no charge to park beside the flying field and watch takeoffs flights and landings Adjacent to the building is the National Soaring Museum adults US with some htonc sailplanes on display as as films on soanng and a large collection of documents and other memorabilia The museum is open daily from 10 a m to 5 p m Uphill battle from Cage greedy paws away from retail cash registers He 11 get lots of support from the retailers themselves since the new tax will give them all sorts of bookkeeping problems John Bulloch head of the Cana Federation of Independent Business says we could be facing the biggest tax revolt this country has ever seen Not the least bit comforting for Mr Wilson And neither are the from the Tory backbenches something the didn have to worry about during the free trade cam paign Something else that free trade had going for it was a clearly defin ed upside The government could talk about lower pnces more jobs better shopping access to bigger markets etc But what comparable selling points come with the new tax I ve yet to see luncheon crowds become red faced with enthusiasm over refundable tax credits Of course if anyone Is tired of tripping over tounsts there might be some con solation in the prospect of the tax discouraging them from entering the country Visitors who have no particular interest in our federal peculiarities are not going to be impressed with worth of sales tax They be even less impressed with information about refundable tax credits WHEN TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE I am a working mother with an active family My evenings are so hectic that I seldom have time to prepare nutritious meals for my family How can decrease the amount of convenience foods we consume A Few people realize how detrimental our hectic life styles can be to a well balanced diet A little planning and preparation however can eliminate a dependence upon fast food restaurants TV dinners and high calorie snacklng Plan for the entire week including foods from all four food groups Prepare foods ahead of time whenever possible Keep in mind that those complicated sauces and gravies are not only time consuming but also high in calories Keep plenty of fresh fruits such as oranges apples and grapefruit available for a quick pick me up Concentrate on foods high In fiber and low in refined sugars such as whole grain crackers fresh vegetables and fruits and low fat high protein meats These foods will provide you with the most staving power and prevent in between meal munchies For more information on how food preparation and planning results in better health contact yourlocal Diet Center at 2900