The Days of Spring
By Christopher Valley
March 9th, 2008 was a special day for us. It was the day Daylight Savings Time started.
Not many people place much significance on that day, but for a hang-glider pilot who works the
usual 8 to 5, it means a lot. This starts the morning ritual of loading my glider on my
truck, tossing my harness in the back, and heading off to work hoping for an evening flight
at Fort Funston. I'm no longer the weekend warrior as of March 9th. Sure, I'll put in my
usual 8 to 5 work day, but I will also keep a close eye on the Funston webcam throughout the
day. I am the "Night Shift" when it comes to flying Funston. I don't care if I get 15
minutes or an hour and 15 minutes... nothing beats watching the sunset while flying
in whatever the Fort has to offer at the end of the work day.
There are a few other "Night Shift" pilots and they know who they are.
We usually show up after 5 PM, walk out to launch, check how much beach is exposed, check the
wind sock one more time, then walk back to our trucks, unload our gliders and begin setting up.
We are usually setting up our gliders while others are breaking down. If I were paid a dollar
for each person who said, "You should have been here earlier", I'd own a fleet of
T2s... one for each day of the week.
This is the way we end our work day, though. It allows us to be functional human beings
throughout the work week. March 11th set my head straight with a 25 minute flight in some
of the smoothest air I've ever flown... within 15 minutes I was 908 feet above the beach
flying my glider like it was merely an extension of my body.... floating. I
watched numerous pilots land, and suddenly, I was all by myself with the entire Fort
to glide along. That was my first day of spring. I became aware of everyone driving
to their homes after their work day during that flight... the stream of little
ants going about their business, oblivious to the little red glider floating above them.
Or maybe they were watching me, and maybe they were saying, "I should have been here
earlier".
Thor@funston.aero by Karl Plischkle
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COME ONE, COME ALL!