Red Confession: Glider’s Devouring Thrust into Dordogne Skies

Saturday, July 31, 1982. Somewhere in Dordogne. Heat sticks my shirt to skin. Sweat beads under casquette. ASK-13 cockpit grips me. Strapped tight. Heart hammers chest. Verriere slams shut. Commands free. Altimeter zeroed. Manche in fist. Feet on pedals. Thumbs up. Wing lifts. Horizon levels. Cable snaps taut. Rallye growls. We slide. Grass rasps beneath. Jolt. Lift. Silence swallows roar.

Tow pulls hard. Push manche. Stay low. One meter hum. Rallye climbs. I follow. Horizon holds. Five hundred meters. Wing winks. Pull yellow cord. Crack. Cable whips free. Veer left. Spiral tight. Thermal sucks me up. Vario pulses one-two meters second. Skin prickles. Breath short. Desire swells. Red haze creeps vision.

The Fever Ignites

Body fuses to bird. Wood. Canvas. Glass. Alive under fingers. Quiet rush air over wings. Push speed. One-sixty. Wind screams fuselage. Problems shrink below. Mind soars. Free. Hungry.

Cumulus blooms ahead. Straight line. Less vario stare. Savor glide. Halve speed. Slam. Updraft kicks ass. Turn sharp. Bank sixty. Horizon spins right. Wing dips. Earth recedes left. Fil de laine dances. Center bille. Commands dance. Manche. Pedals. Two-point-five up. Three. Climbs fierce. Light dims. Cold bites. Twelve hundred meters. Cloud fringe licks nose.

Cloud road stretches. Jump cumulus to cumulus. Regain height each pump. One thermal. Three buzzards wheel above. No flap. Sense my turn. Sixteen meters span matches theirs. Extension. I am wings. Vibrations pulse veins. Forget machine. Pure. Sky devours me. They circle. I spiral. Intoxicated. Heart races wild. Sweat rivers down back. Urgency grips. Possess this height. Total.

Blaze of Aerial Surrender

Front rolls in. Grey beasts charge. Cumulonimbus anvil looms. Currents rage inside. Fifty meters second. Hantise. Eighteen hundred meters mine. Finesse twenty-eight. Forty kay glide safe. Twenty to field. Push manche. One-sixty. Vario screams minus two-point-five. Visibility shreds. Mist rises fields. Field spots. Wind-arriere short. Base turn. Rafales claw. Bank hard. Hold wing. No flip.

Finale. Ninety kay headwind. Badin one-ten. Ground crawls twenty. Too high. Two hundred over threshold. Freins out. No drop. Push harder. Full freins. Manche butee. Vibrate shreds. Vario minus ten. Plunge. Fingers white on blue handle. Right hand fights manche. Glance jettison. Parachute red. Twenty seconds hell. Ground rush. Pull arrondi. Thud. Grass drags. Safe.

Verriere flies open. Unstrap. Leap out. Chute off. Lock manche. Buddies tow with 4L. I lift tail. Rain smacks hot. Bar later. No fear in crux. Clarity pure. Skin still burns. Pulse echoes wings. Lived edge. Unique. Ashes smolder.