Gliding (How it works)

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Here's the road to the Boulder Municipal Airport. It's not exactly JFK, is it?

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The office for Mile High Gliding is built out of an old Airstream. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but it's got character.

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The pilot and passenger(s) are stuffed into the little craft. Let's call the guy standing next to it "rope-boy". More on him later.

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You'll notice that the glider only has one real wheel, right in the center. The tip of each wing and the tail have a little wheel that looks like it was stolen from an old pair of roller-blades, mounted on a spring.

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The tow-plane was originally meant for agricultural use, but seems like it was built for the job. You can see the rope hanging off the back, which has already been attached to the glider by rope-boy.

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Rope-boy balances the glider on it's one wheel, the tow plane takes off and rope-boy runs along with it until it's going fast enough to balance on it's own.

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Down the runway they go, until they both take off.

Posted by leo at June 11, 2006 10:09 PM
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