Had a marvelous flying adventure recently – two soaring flights on the magnificent, breathtaking, Morning Glory of Northern Australia.
Morning Glories can be hundreds of miles long. They are the rarest of five types of soaring and only happen reliably in Northern Australia. Pilots are often understandably addicted to soaring them for their majesty, beauty, and near magical smoothness. Notably, in my opinion only two people can credibly explain how they work.
This is my view under my right wing as dawn first peeks over the tallest Morning Glory wave cloud which is hundreds of miles long. It is swooshing towards me from ocean over the Gulf of Carpentaria. I soared this one for some 40 miles.
The view of the cloud from the top (my favorite), was heart-filling.
Apparently, according to Morning Glory experts, I was only the 15th Hang Glider pilot to fly the Morning Glory. Which is kinda cool, tho I don’t think its official. (In a related vein, I was fairly clearly the first hang glider pilot to fly in the country of Andorra when I was hired to teach hang gliding on on of their ski slopes. However, after I tried a flight there, I realized all wind near the surface of snow is going downhill – the exact opposite of safe flying. So I cancelled the lesson.)
Down below (the real Australian “Outback”), all the rivers, and even the ocean shores, are solidly infested with our world’s biggest, fiercest Crocodiles called “Salties !” (Meaning Saltwater Crocodiles)
I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing one up close, but the locals strongly advised us not to go to the beaches with – “We haven’t had an incident since the 1980’s” !!!
You might laugh, but this is a serious concern. Sadly, a local woman was eaten by a Saltie not far from where we were flying – only a week after we left.
For more on my flying adventure see my new Flickr page
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