Glider flying

Pursuing my private glider pilot certificate  ·  Secretary, UIUC Soaring Club

Soaring is the art of finding energy in invisible places — thermals, ridge lift, wave. You're constantly building a mental model of the air, updating it, making decisions on incomplete information. It maps onto research more than I expected.

Airport
Willard, Champaign
Certificate
Private (in progress)
Club role
Secretary, UIUC

As club secretary, I led a fuel cost analysis that resulted in a restructured tow rate schedule. Apparently I can't turn off the economist brain at altitude.

There's something clarifying about being 3,000 feet up with no engine. The decisions are yours, the consequences are immediate, and the air doesn't care about your priors. It's a good antidote to desk work.

The best thinking happens at altitude with a thermal to find and no engine to fall back on.