I’m glad a picture is worth a thousand words, because as I looked down at the Tennessee River Gorge from 2,300 feet in the air, I knew words would fail me when I tried to describe what I saw. People have written volumes about the beauty of the Greater Chattanooga area, but you can’t truly appreciate the splendor of this region until you’ve seen it from a bird’s eye view.
I’ve been content to appreciate Chattanooga from the ground, as I’m happiest when my feet are on terra firma. While I’m willing to travel by plane, I always breathe a sigh of relief when the wheels touch the runway, and you could not have convinced me I would someday step voluntarily onto an aircraft. But when I stumbled across the Web site for Fly This and watched the video of Erik Graper soaring over the gorge in his trike, sparks went off in my head.
I believe the footage touched the part of me that longs to experience more of what life has to offer. Like many people, I’m content to live within the confines of my routine. I don’t seek out thrills, nor do I have a Bucket List that includes skydiving or racing a Shelby Mustang at Auto Club Speedway. I watched Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicolson do those things from the soft embrace of my couch, and that was good enough. But from time to time, I start itching to do something that makes my heart beat faster.
Graper seems to be happiest in the air. An experienced pilot, he’s taken off and returned safely to the ground more than 10,000 times in a variety of aircraft, including hangliders, trikes, tug planes and garden variety Cessnas. He also holds enough U.S. Hangliding and Paragliding Association and FAA ratings to fill a half-dozen business cards. He even has a PhD in hangliding! (Graper was earning his MBA when hangliding distracted him, and he never looked back.)
Graper’s experience gave me the confidence to undertake the adventure of triking. If you’re going to place your life in the hands of another person, it’s a good idea to make sure he knows what he’s doing.
It’s also important to feel comfortable with the equipment. As I pulled up to Graper’s launching point at Marion County Park and saw the trike, my jaw dropped. The photos on the Fly This Web site do not do the craft justice. Graper had parked under a canopy of trees near his launch point at Marion County Park, and the yellow hanglider wing stretched much further than I’d imagined, making the trike look like a giant predatory bird sitting in the wild. Attached to the wing was a carriage with two seats, the control frame and an engine.
Technically, a trike is a weight shift controlled special light sport aircraft, but it gets its catchy name from the fact that it has three wheels. Graper’s trike is unique in that it also has pontoons, which allow it to take off and land in water. Graper’s trike can literally go anywhere.
My only “Hmmm” moment came when Graper told me to slip into the back and secure my seat belt. “Hmmm,” I thought as I realized the only things that would be keeping my butt in the seat were gravity and a strap around my waist.
My concerns about falling out and plunging to the ground faded as Graper did a thorough check before starting the engine. Soon, we were rolling across the ground, slipping onto the water and jetting across Nickajack Lake.
Once Graper was happy with the wind, he asked, “Are you ready to do this?” I said, “Let’s go,” and he hit the accelerator.
I will never forget the rush I felt as Graper raced across the water and lifted off. Within moments, we were soaring high above the bridge that crosses the lake, the cars and trucks below us already looking like Matchbox toys.
I looked further down and saw a long and slender Heron gracefully cruising a few feet above the lake, the ends of its wings touching the surface as it made its way across the water. When I looked up, I saw the Tennessee River snaking through tree-covered mountains and the horizon literally surrounding me. While I have seen some impressive things through the window of an airplane, including the sun setting over Puget Sound and a lightning storm at night, nothing can compare to the ability to look anywhere. The feeling of the cool wind hitting my face only added to the exhilaration of truly being up in the air.
Graper explained over his headset that the Discovery Flight I was taking was not a thrill ride, but an introductory lesson to triking. That meant he would be handing the controls over to me. However, before doing that, he gave me a primer on thermals, went over the basics of lift and demonstrated how to operate the control frame. With a slight touch to the left or right, the trike would turn in the opposite direction, while pushing forward on the control frame would slow it down and pulling it back would speed it up.
When we reached an altitude of 2,300 feet and were traveling about 45 miles per hour, Graper told me to grab the training bars and get a feel for controlling the trike. His hands remained on the control frame, but loosely, which allowed me to feel comfortable with taking over. Although I made a few slight turns, the air was too choppy for my tastes and I grew concerned about losing control, so I asked him to relieve me. In retrospect, I wish I had pushed through that moment of fear, and have resolved to do so should I ever go up again.
Once Graper was back in control, I sat back and took in the sights. I spotted a bird coasting on a thermal high above us, and wondered how much higher the trike could go (sport pilots are limited to 10,000 feet and private pilots can climb to 18,000 feet), and I was in awe as we passed a few feet under a small cloud. The excitement I felt as Graper took off returned during the landing as Nickajack Lake came rushing up to greet us and then slapped our legs with a light spray.
As I bring this column to a close, I’m tempted to toss several clichés in your direction about how life is short and you only live once, but the writer in me feels like that would be too easy. Then again, words have failed me as I’ve tried to convey the joy of stepping out of my comfort zone and breaking free of the hold gravity has on me, so I’ll go with easy.
As Graper cruised across the lake to his launch point, he looked back at me and said, “Life is short.” I believe I added, “And you only live once.”
Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.