#610,
the Leader
Excerpt from Joe Duff's Journal: Nov. 1, 2006
Loving the Lead
As
expected #610 took up the lead position. For the first few
miles he behaved himself. Once we reached 1000 feet,he got bored
and began to play. He would fly over
the wing and
cause
the tip to stall and I would have to pull the steering bar hard
on the left to keep the plane level. Then #610 would fly ahead
of the wing tip
and
I could
feel the
pulse of his wing beats. It felt and sounded like driving on a
flat tire. At one point he was all by himself on the right wing.
The other15
birds
were on the left.
Lucky Bird
I watched him move in front of the wing and slowly drift along
the leading edge, passing right above me with only his neck and
head visible. Then he gracefully floated down the other wing
and off the tip to again take the lead of the long line
of birds. This
would have been impossible with our old wings and all their
dangerous overhead wires. Instead of panicking, I watched
with interest.
If not for the innovative design by North Wing, and a generous
donation from the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund to allow
us to buy these new wings, #610 would have been dead a
few times by
now!
Who's
the Boss?
After a while, I learned that if I turned hard into
him he would move out of the way and I could regain control. The
frustrating
part is that he encourages the rest of the flock, and when all
seems to be going along smoothly, he instigates a mutiny and all
the birds charge ahead leaving us in their pulsing wake. It is
fine to let them have their lead sometimes, but it sets a dangerous
precedent. In their society they become dominant and
move above the aircraft in the chain of command. That's all well
and good until the
flock decides they would rather fly east than south and the pilot
must regain the leadership as well as the lead.
Journey North is pleased to feature this educational
adventure made possible by the
Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).
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