30 Seconds to Landing

Above, a recent low-res clip of a landing in W. Oregon (if you don't see it, it's because I'm reloading this with a much higher-quality clip than the original). This is the end of a 12-minute flight with a maximum altitude of about 1,800 feet. I come in a little fast, but the landing is safe. At the beginning you can see power lines under me; don't worry, I had an eagle eye on them and knew that I was well above and clearing them. Any lower, however, and I would already have made a hard turn to land in an alternate field, but I was not too concerned about them. On the radio another pilot, not my instructor, pleads for me to turn right, into the wind, at the end...which I was planning on doing before he started worrying.

The important thing: the beauty of unpowered flight...one shot at takeoff, one shot at landing. There's no engine to help out, you have to get it right. This concentrates the mind wonderfully!