[pct-l] Re: Jets

[pbaily at webuniverse.net (Phil Baily)]

Years ago, I had a friend who flew hang gliders. He sometimes took off from
that spot on the road to Horseshoe Meadows. I once remarked that I had been
on top of Mt. Whitney and hadn't seen any gliders. He said that I would not.
They would be above me and too high to see easily with the naked eye. Think
about the elevation at the top of Mt. Whitney and being that far above it!
Incidentally, they do wear oxygen bottles.

Pieces

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marion Davison" <mardav@charter.net>
To: "Kevin Corcoran" <kevin@antelecom.net>; "PCT List"
<pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 10:38 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Re: Jets


> Kevin Corcoran wrote:
>
> > I know an old guy who told me a great story from his flight-test days
> > at Edwards Air Force Base:
> > Once in the late 60's he was returning to Edwards, at high subsonic
> > speed in, if I remember the story correctly, an F-4.
> > Streaking southbound over the Owens Valley, at about Lone Pine, he
> > said something on the right side caught his eye, at his altitude, and
> > it passed out of view so closely and quickly that he almost didn't
> > recognize it as a guy in a hang glider.
> > He was at 15,000 ft.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> I have seen the spot where the hang gliders take off--they  take off
> from a parking pull- off  on the road to Horseshoe meadow, about 15
> miles up the mountain from Lone Pine. They take off from an elevation of
> almost 10,000 feet.  I can imagine the thermals rising from the Owens
> Valley up that mountain wall must be awesome, so I can easily imagine a
> hang glider ascending on those thermals to 15K.  It takes a truly gutsy
> individual to fly that bird.
> I was buzzed by a fighter jet while crossing Mosquito Pass in Emigrant
> Wilderness in about 1976.  It came over so low, loud and fast that I
> dropped to my belly in the dirt.  Just another wonderful and
> unforgettable backcountry experience.
> Marion
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