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From: Olive
Date: 7/27/99
Time: 8:54:58 PM
Remote Name: 199.247.51.14
S... happens any time without warning in this stinky life and that is what makes it so lovely and spicy! Ones we agree with that and accept it, the whole screen beggin to get clear & smooth and Life perfumed again. But this morning, was one of this damn one when a brick fall on your skull.. We went to the airport with Cameron ( one of the member of the Polar Pilot Club ) who invited us for a scenic flight inboard his Cessna 172. The Bay of Frobisher was gorgeously illuminated by the morning sun and my two Nikon were ready on my knees for immediate action. The air was cristal pure and the sky, "postcard blue", almost too blue. But the wind was blowing strong today. As we taxi back to the holding point for Runway 18, Mike suggested to me to have a good look on the far left where our wings were parked flat beetwen steel hangars. Gosh! my wing was hanging on the side of a wooden cabana, flapping its tips in the gusts over an rusty & abandoned trailer. The scenery was pretty weird and heart breaking! Luckly Mike spoted the little disaster as we passed by. This guy has a bird sight by the way.. Well, that was it for the scenic session in the Cessna. We jumped out, avoiding walking into the turning blades of the 172 and got the hang-glider back on the ground. It did not look too bad at first glance but except for some evident new cuts in the top sail and scratches on the leading edge. I will have to go for a short test flight and deep inspection before resuming the trip. The wing with its new holes looks more like a war machine now and that's all that it is about anyway. This part of the expedition in the Arctic world is a kind of mission, a fight with both scary bureaucracy and fearsome natural elements. Today would be a no-flight-day, even if the "Vikings" would give us the green light to proceed to Greenland. The winds are blowing at gale force, probably around 45 knots, with gust at 55.. Something.. Now both wings are safe in the Polar flyers hangar behind the Piper Cub and the Cessna.