U1 L3 w-L-V Appoved FfrrVepse ?0~061V ~A-~If 98-0R7?2XQpf 0~4p001 -8 AY Ultra-Light Fright Flight By Mariah Burton Nelson First we hopped, bally-bird style. Taxi down the runway, nose up, wheels off the ground, wheeee ... and set her down. "Do that again," I said, a child tossed in the air. On the second hop, I was grinning like a toothpaste commercial. On the third, we abandoned the earth altogether. I can't speak for Orville Wright, but I'd bet that the first time he soared - not that ... ... .. ... n::::: & M TOO YOUNG to die," .......... ....... said Larry ... ... S ............ econd, 120-foot skip but I - his first real I Fox, another Weekend writer. "You fli t - he felt, along with elation, another igh go. y of his primal feeling: terror. After all, man That's how edecessors died in the attempt. it Flying is came p about that I flew in a flimsy, open-cockpit aircraft tural, despite the ubiquity not of flying with no na. nor- nial . . ..... trepidation, ........ . .... but reams; anyone with sense with should be, at death on my mind. .. . ..... .... Before liftoff X I talked ry least, nervous. Flying with in an ultralight is Bruce Pete rs, owner of like heading toward the Washington heavens on a lounge Sky Sports, a compa- ny specializing in ' You're not even in the tiny, plane - there dragonfly-shaped c air. air- craft called is no "in." You're seated, Spectrum legs outstretched; Ultralights. Peters has 12 lean to the right or left years and a seatbelt is the of piloting experience, he as7 X.: ...... .-sured me. nly thing keeping you from Even your -first and if the engine goes out, the d in : a .... ... .. ... ast skydive. plane can safely glide down. It can Ian rom- cornfield. ut it was, indeed, a treat. "You're Cruising di- in for a treat," he p .. ........ ..... ised. p ectly into the wind at 3,000 feet, I felt sus- The day . ....... pended, motionless, like of sx. an Amelia Earhardt liftoff ...... . .. ... . we drove to a short run- way behind . .. ....... ... a ... ... ctress with a fake earth southern below. We peered Maryland trailer park. . ..... I wore ... .. ... ....... my . e s in n aviator X. XXX~:. shades . and .. ... my ..... ...... ...... clos .. .... . . est . approximation . of . .. ... ... ....... a .......... ..... ridges, Monopoly neighborhoods. flight I looked jacket; Bruce ...... ....... . . ................... ............. . X: ore normal . ............ clothes. .......... ... .......... After r cornfields, just in case, Bruce's and spotted in- pre- flight inspection, I .......... did ........ ..... . my ead our own shadow, surprisingly own. . . beau- Much .. to ........ MY horror, ... .... I .. .. saw . umped over trees and houses. plane .. ... .... .. parts yq .. ...... ..... tiful as it fastened .... ....... . with bun- gee . ..... BY LARRY My stomach plunked into cords, MORRIS place as if, after zippers and duct tape. ("Non- essential Bruce Peters in an abandoning it on a hundred parts," open-cockpit ultra-light youthful Ferris Bruce plane. explained.) Made of Dacron, wheel rides, I finally caught the up with it. wings were sewn in the zig-zag stitch longer in my reckless Bruce showed me how to turn I teens or roaring the plane used plate: Vader 1) to carefully and confidently, use in home ec. Maybe it's , twenties, I have and how to keep it level. me, noticed that the After a while he but more in- even slowing ' I to the required find 5 mph through it difficult to trust an airplane constructed tensely I love life, put his hands on my shoulders. on the less romantic "Congrat- a r feel the trailer Singer. park. He spoke with knowledge To about an early death. ulations," he said. "You've make and humility - a been flying the matters rare combination worse, at any Peters, a dimple-cheeked Yet I can't play plane for a full minute." man it safe just because with cau- age - about the 'weather patterns springy and the step of tiniic rnl1pnoiu-z "Don't vou dare have a heart a nnd homemarlp. airplanes, attack." I Muppet, nhvsics of flight- is only 25 years old - whigh, since that's to fly because fly- answered. younger Before I knew it than I was strapped into I the am, petrify me. "I don't is need very young. . - dragonfly, head The truth is, I like to Turns ing doesn't frighten protected by a be scared, though I out me; I need his 12 years of experience began to fly even though I F helmet C'If we crash,prefer having been scared. on it frightens should I So when we a hang glider at age 13. For the past " writes Diane Ackerman try to land on my touched down, returning six in head?"), con- to the conspicu- years me he's been performing loops, stalls , and wingovers in Stearman biplanes , On Extended Wings, trol stick between ously flat two-dimensional ' the sag. of my knees. In world, I was all s l__ wr f-1 _f FIving 11c1 ILY .6 V... -n-rl c;IJA7 nnrJ arntafill Circus. o me, real courage My ... -on, of me was fate a motorcl7n ~-Q;7~fl was winel- in in Bealton the has to do with keeping for another risk taken and hands one's passion for survived. of life shield; behind a me was Bruce, now ~id elevated' who gets his jollies flying upside down. intact, one's curiosity Thanks, Larry. at full stretch, "Today when to the status is of savior. "You've a got controls good day ' , to " die for all the lit? 0017YGTON SKY SPORTS offers I introductory squeaked into f the d things i in l my f life i are 95 present," f said f one $29 is aily hemined in by death. disease back there too, QJ~04%aQOi~&clAd7 lc~~4SDWRP(IQZROUD ~-&*O)(ii4esogEnP Horse, y or which it was as good a an was day to die as any. ses so very control stick in ic evolved my right hand, the or of throttle . when prom it o pro came ency to $1,200, which includes an the unhmited number of lessons. possibility 900 to $15,OW Contact of LRtrafights -are sold for m $4 I y ex- A]-,n I trusted Brnre rh-inn On the way to tbc , ina in my left. and ivri- rr 11 J T).i... QnT fifa tht. vcdaI5 undu fnr my fQtt aU nna -iirl-inma thH] tnfilair