As I sat in the nose of the glider, concentrating on capturing my first ride in a sailplane on film, the mood of the flight suddenly changed.
"How about a wingover?" asked Sami Rintala. His words were playful and I felt his grin behind me as I said, without thinking, "Let's do it."Gone were the lazy circles in rising thermals that carried us to 9,000 feet above Heber Valley. The wandering direction of the glider transformed into a quick and purposeful descent. Quiet air became a noticeable whoosh as we picked up speed necessary for the maneuver.
I held my camera above my head, struggling to keep it pointed in Rintala's direction as he pulled back on the stick. G-forces strengthened as the ground slipped out of view and we headed straight up. As the plane lost speed, I began to feel weightless. Tightening my stomach muscles, I squeezed the shutter button even though the camera was pointed aimlessly out of the canopy.
Now I was weightless. I watched the left wing swing up as the aircraft pivoted. The horizon rolled into view and we were pointed straignt down. The plane gained speed. Then G forces vanished as Rintala leveled the glider.
"Wow" was the only word I could muster, and I turned to show Rintala my own grin. "The wingover is my favorite," he volunteered. It didn't even matter to me that during the trick, my camera had malfunctioned and that whole roll of film was ruined. We were just going to have to do another!
After a second wingover, Rintala suggested that the negative G forces might be making the camera malfunction and we should try a loop with positive G's.
This time we made a longer descent. I heard a much louder whoosh as the airspeed climbed from the normal 40 knots to 100 knots (approximately 115 mph). I remembered the first time I rode a looping roller coaster. I felt heavy in my seat as the ground disappeared.
Tightening my stomach muscles, I saw the ground grow large in the canopy. It filled my view as we traveled straight down, then back up again. The camera worked this time. I heard the motor drive throughout the loop.
By this time, we had lost some altitude and I was hoping that we had enough for at least one more. "I will line up with the airport and then do another loop," said Rintala.
We did another loop, and as the plane nosed up there was enough speed for a wingover. It was all I could to hang onto my camera as I let the now familiar sensations take over. While Rintala turned the glider for approach to the runway, I thought of all I'd heard about the serenity of soaring.