28 September 2009

Orlando, Timezone GMT -4




25 minutes until briefing starts... this time my standby call was really with very short notice and I had to race to the airport to make it on the flight to – Orlando! What a lucky choice, two nights in Florida. Jamie is still in Arizona at the Santa Cruz flats comp (Kraig won, with Robin Hamilton in 2nd place), so I couldnt meet her.
But our captain is an aviation enthusiast and already mentioned going to „Fantasy of flight“ in the briefing, and sure I was interested in going there. Our two co-pilots joined in, one of them had been in Guido´s flight training course, so I was outed pretty quickly. I told them about Quest Air and Wallaby in the vicinity of where we were going, the chance of maybe taking a tandem flight in the afternoon. Not enough time – so many stories in one day.
Too late now to write all of it, I will do that later. Just this much: I was introduced to the pilot who has been holding the height record for parachuting, more than 100000 feet (right, outer space!) for the past 40 years! Patiently Joe Kittinger answered my bezillion questions, as it was difficult for me to imagine how a jump like that is possible. Oxygen, pressure, weight, heat and cold, speed, stability – all spinning in my head. He made it, having gone up in a balloon above New Mexico. On the group photo he is to my right.

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