The Flying Wire

“Sharks kill an average of six people a world-wide every year. Humans kill between 26 and 73 million sharks. This is not a battle humans are losing.”

  –from ‘The Unthinkable’ by Amanda Ripley

Thanks to the efforts of Peter, Kona, and Nelson, there is now an Official Flying Cloud T-shirt. This is available through Zazzle in both gallant gentlemen’s and sultry island maiden’s sizes, though I must admit I like the ‘Miss Sarah’s version’ the best. This was a collaborative effort. They came up with the inspiration, design, and ideas, while I made all the mistakes. It was a terrific amount of fun, and the results came out looking pretty good.

There are quite a few other graphics around — from the Flying Cloud, the List of Interesting Things, and also a few various hang gliding expeditions — that could be turned into t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, refrigerator magnets, bumper stickers, and artifacts of the Elder Gods. So if you have any suggestions or things you’d like to see, let me know. After all, the Flying Cloud is a community effort, and would not be possible without your help.

Many characters in The Flying Cloud speak languages other than English. This would be fine if these were languages in which I was fluent. Unfortunately, I cleverly managed to arrange things so that none of the limited number of languages I know much about are ever likely to appear in the story. One of the many fine examples of advance planning for which members of my tribe have become famous. Darn.

In the absence of expert knowledge, I’ve been forced to turn to web-based translation engines such as Yahoo’s ambitous Babelfish. The kindest way to describe the results would be ‘indifferent’. The words ‘laughable’, ‘side-splitting’, and ‘hysterical’ also leap to mind. While this may add an element of charm to the adventures of Captain Everett and his companions, I cannot help but wish for advice from real native-speakers who actually know what they are talking about. Or speaking, as the case may be.

For this reason, the Signal Corps of the Royal Navy Airship Service has created the College of Translators on the Flying Cloud Forum. This prestigious institution consists of an episode-by-episode list of every non-English phrase in the story, the language it’s alleged to be in — there can be some doubt — and what it was supposed to mean.

I urge you Noble Readers who have some knowledge of German, Dutch, Strine, Latin, Japanese, Tagalog, Farsi, Russian, the Port Moresby dialect of Pidgin, and/or the tongue of the Elder Gods who filtered down from the stars before the dawn of time and waiting in hidden places, sleeping but not dead, until the stars are right for their return – one assumes this is a bit like LISP – to have a look, laugh to yourselves, and offer corrections. Your contributions will be acknowledged in the College of Translators Roll of Honor!

One of the great mysteries of creation is why The Flying Cloud shows up as number one in a Google search for ‘island maidens’. I can’t recall who pointed it out, but this phenomenon began around April of 2009 — long before Sarah or Helga made their first appearances — and has continued with few interruptions until the present day. It’s not as if the story had many island maidens back then. Indeed, their only mention was a few episode titles. And you’d think there’d surely be dozens of sites competing for this one particular phrase. But it seems that the Royal Navy Airship Service has edged them out.

I cannot help but wonder what other simple 2-word or 3-word phrases turn up The Flying Cloud at or near the top of a Google search. If you come across any winners — or better yet, something totally off-the-wall — let me know!

This online serial drama by R. L. Jean has become one of my favorites. At first glance, the premise seems unremarkable: Sabrina, a woman from our century, is swept into the past to find herself living among pirates of the 18th century, the heyday of oceanic piracy. I’m sure this has happened to all of us at one time or another. But things are not as simple as they seem.

First there’s the situation. Something is going on. Even now, months into the story, its nature remains a mystery, but it seems Sabrina has been swept back into the past for a reason. One cannot help but wonder what this reason might be. Then there’s the background. R. L. Jean knows her subject. Every time I think I’ve caught her out on some historical inaccuracy, it turns out that she was right and I was wrong. Darn. And Sabrina has access to this information! Unlike so many characters in the ‘modern-person-gets-swept-back-into-the-past’ genre, Sabrina happened to be carrying a book about the era into which she was swept, complete with biographies of the people she was about to meet. Was this a blessed or a curse? Can she use this knowledge to change the past? And what will happen if she tries? Here too, one cannot help but wonder.

Finally there are the characters themselves. These things can be a matter of taste, but I must say that these people are growing on me. The ones from the 20th century act like people from the 20th century rather than Johnny Depp. The ones from the 18th century act like people from the 18th century rather than Johnny Depp. And they’re all three-dimensional, with plausible motives and attitudes that have evolved in interesting ways as the story progressed. I find myself waiting impatiently for the each new episode so I can learn what they’ve been up to. This is one mark of a successful serialized drama.

So if you’re fascinated by the Golden Age of Oceanic Piracy — and what sensible person isn’t — you owe it to yourself to give this one a try. The Noble Pirates, the Men Behind the Myth (http://www.thenoblepirates.com/) by R. L. Jean.

In some parts of the world, thermals occur in every season, and one can soar year-round. Northern California is not one of these fortunate lands. Here in the Bay Area, lift dwindles toward the end of fall, and northeast winds shut down most of our sites during the long dark months of winter. But sometimes the weather relents — not enough to soar, perhaps, but at least enough to fly. So it was that I found myself in the hills of Milpitas this morning, watching the sky.

The prospect was anything but promising, with layers of fog and cloud blocking the sun. Still, it one doesn’t become a hang glider pilot unless one has a certain amount of optimism, and several truckloads of optimists headed up the hill. The scene that greeted us at the top was unexpected. The fog, which had seemed so dismal from the landing zone, stretched out below us like a calm grey sea, dotted with small white islands of cloud. Beneath it, we could see hints of landscape, like visions from a dream. It was worth coming here, I thought, just to see this.

We took our time setting up. Perhaps we were being lazy. Perhaps we were in no hurry to launch for what would obviously be a brief sled ride. But I suspect we dawdled because we were enchanted. Every now and then, one of us would leave the setup area, walk to the edge of the slope, and stare down at the scene below without saying a word. (This, of course, is one of the Ten Warning Signs of Enchantment. If you or any of your friends shows one of these signs, they may not be enchanted, but they should still be checked for spells, etc…) Still, one can only dawdle for so long. There comes a time when the last cable is secured, the last rib locked in place, and preflight inspection is done. Then its time to shrug on the harness, strap on them helmet, carry the glider up to launch, and prepare to fly.

Hook in, prelaunch check — tip wand, sprog, hooked into both hang loops and locked, leg straps, parachute pins, sprog, tip wand — and shoulder the wing. It feels balanced and wind is blowing up the hill. One last check of pitch attitude, then lean forward and run down the slope. Three steps… a dozen… gosh we’re moving fast! Hang strap tightens… wing lifts up… and… we’re flying!

There is a magic in flight. The view might be the same as it was from the mountain, but the world seems a little brighter. Life might also be the same, but its troubles seem less important, for flight puts these things in perspective. That argument you had with your girlfriend, does it really matter? You still love each other. So buy her some roses, give her a kiss, and take her out to dinner tonight. That project deadline your boss says is a matter of life or death? He’s a fool. It isn’t a matter of life or death. It isn’t even close. This is life or death. And you have chosen life.

I spent a few minutes sight-seeing, marveling at a prospect that always seems new. Then – growing bored, perhaps – I decided to have some fun.

Let’s try a few high-speed steep-banked turns to wring out the wing. Forty-five degrees… that roll-out was a little off… forty-five again… much better… sixty… sixty… pulling 2 g’s… watch that pitch control on exit… got it! Now it’s time for a stall. Slow the glider down… feel how the roll control gets logy…see if you can keep those wings level… ease the bar out a little more… there she goes! A brief fall as wing stops flying. Then relax, let the nose down and recover.

With 1000’ of altitude left, there was time left to play, so I flew across the landing zone to try an approach from a new direction. The field looked strange from this angle — roads, trees, and lake out of place in a way that brought a smile to my face. The windsocks also looked strange, for each one was pointed in a different direction. This was less amusing, for it meant I would almost certainly be landing downwind, and my landings have been not always been things of beauty.

Still, there was no help for it. One of the realities of flight is that each and every one must somehow come to an end. I picked out my turn points, dove to pick up speed, and brought the wing around on approach. A bit high, perhaps, and yes that was a tailwind, but members of my tribe laugh at tailwinds — through clenched teeth, perhaps, with a few curses mixed in, but this still arguably a form of laughter.

Round out in ground effect. Don’t look down to notice that groundspeed because this can only lead to tears. Ease out the control bar to bleed off airspeed. Head up, hands up, grip loose, keep that back arched… feel the wing about to stall… and… flare! Not too shabby. I may have dropped the glider after I was done, but for a downwind landing, I’ll take it.

So that was it: flight number 1126 in my logbook. Date: 9-Jan-2010. Site: Ed Levin Park 1750’ hill. Launch altitude: 1750’ AGL, 2250’ MSL. Glider: Moyes Litesport. Conditions: wind south at less than 5 MPH, 90% overcast at 12,000’, no sun, no thermal activity. Duration: 5 minutes.

Or perhaps it lasted a lifetime.

How could I resist the temptation? I just had to post it a day early! Partly this was for debugging purposes. I’d made so many changes to the site – new menus, the Extras page, the Forum — that putting it up early to spend extra time making sure everything worked seemed like the responsible thing to do. But I must confess that another motive was impatience. I wanted to see what the thing looked like. In particular, I wanted to see how that Armstrong-Whitworth control car came out. That thing was hard to research. There are plenty of pictures, but most are small and blurry, some are contradictory, and the actual control car of the R-33 — on display at the RAF museum in London — doesn’t seem to entirely resemble some of the contemporary press photographs. (Perhaps they made some changes after the photographs were taken. Or perhaps the one in London was a spare. They might have had a large collection of control cars in a shed somewhere, each with a slightly different color and design, to use depending on their mood. “Let’s try the blue one today,” they might have said, “the one with the chaise lounge next to the tea table. Actress Louise Brooks is coming for a publicity tour, and she looks good in blue.” But I digress.)

There was also the matter of Captain Everett and his companions. With so many questions unanswered, they couldn’t just sit around the Cairns Royal Air Station waiting for something to turn up. So now they’re off, and the story has begun! I hope you all enjoy it, I look forward to your comments and suggestions, and if you do spot any bugs in the new site, let me know so I can pass them on the Jenkins.