As another scorching summer and another scary fire season (the air quality in most of the American West has been pinned at “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy” for several weeks) comes to a close I am getting excited about flying during my favourite time of year.
Gone are the days records will go down, and this summer had some big ones (a new FAI record in the US by Galen Kirkpatrick, another new FAI stomper by XC hound Edouard Potel in the Maritime Alps, the first 300km on an EN A…) but the fall season is the time to fly simply for the aesthetics of flight.
Crisp clean air, the psychedelic colours of the trees, the hint of cooler days and crisp nights to come. We no longer have to get up before dawn and squeak every second out of every day flying as fast and as far as we can.
We can sleep in, enjoy an espresso, have a wander out the back and hike something that looks interesting and just go have a play...
