Page Ten

THE MfCHIGAN DAILY

Saturday, June 12, 1976

PageTen HE MC-IGN DALY aturay, une 2,..,.E


Hot air balloons:
The heavenly uprising

uicini'd 5rm o'a a
on up. And there are only
so,, e 7, balloons flying today.
This is not to mention the
spsrt's notoriety for weeding
out its 1000 or so participants
thiough natural selection of a
sort - survival of the fittest or
rather survival of the well-
tra'ned. "We (the sport of bal-
looni~ig) have probably killed
teu per cent of them (the 1000
flyerv) in he las six years,"
said Jeff whose experise has
helped his career progress with-
out incident. He blames the
majoritv of deaths on piloting
errors born of poor training.
Most of the unfortunates are
victims of collissions with pow-
er lineF. So as Jeff prepared
for descent I inconspicuously
looked for those insidious black
wires and found none in sight.
I relaxed and surveyed the
Chelsea landscape as we dip-
ped bel w the sun.
The wind, however, had pick-
ed up a knot or two and at-
though I couldn't detect the
change myself, the balloon
grew sempermental. Ordinar-
ily, when approaching a land-
ing in a breeze, the pilot could
rip a patch from the balloon,
releasing some air to ease the
impact upon touchdown. But
once the task is done there's

no ascending, without running
through the whole exhausting
inflation routine again.
Since Jeff was supposed to
take Steve up next, he had to
issue me an ultimatum: His
ride o- my smooth landing. In
order ftr my friend to experi-
ence this once-in-a-lifetime of-
fer, the balloon would have to
be left entirely inflated and we
world have to risk a rough
landing, which meant I would
have to grow a set of shock ab-
sorbers fast. I took a look at
my in-tact limbs for what I
imagined would be the last time
and said, "Tell me what to
do." - A poor selection of final
words, I thought in passing. I
mim admit, though, taking the
pessiwmsstic attitude was more
exciting.
F1 L L 0 W I N G INSTRUC-
TIONS, I kneeled down in
the bottom of the wicker bas-
ket and tried in vein to get
cor Portable. Sitting on a bed of
nails might have been an im-
pro-ement. With one hand I
grasped the rope handle close
to the floor until my knuckles
turn, i-white and with the other
I clutched a tape recorder,
wondering how much it cost as
I anticipated returning it to its
owner in an armload of tiny

pieces. What worried me more
however, was the vision of illy
parents having me returned in
an armload of tiny pieces,
Ticougi', the gaps in the bus
ket I watched our approch
and a corn field never los
unappetizing.
Y'You okay down there?" lf
yelled from his command sss
"Yes!" I yelled and ever
nerve in my body yelled no
"Coo," I heard hins
"No' we're going to hi
arornd a little so hold on."
T SHOULD HAVE known tie
- "bounce" was simply a e
phersismn for "crash" bect:ss,
no bounce ever had less revl
ence. We crunched dow' s
stat corn, dragged for ;se+
on'd, rebounded and case sack
for another hit. Again and aga
we fell on every side, evr
corner of the basket and I ca
caled around the bIt us
the container like mseat c
blender.
We f. 'ially slid to a tes
halt and I peeked tp isve'
leather rim of the basket t"
our saviors (human ane ,v
once again) prancing to tw
scere over barbed wire fece,
and shi'ihigh crops. My nds
ture was over but dreams I
the next had only begun.

FAA releases Concord noise report

Jeff Vna stein
"The Christian Non-Church
Movement in Japan."
a presentation and discussion
led by RAY HOMMES and RICH SYTSMA,
missionaries from Japan.
SUNDAY CAMPUS CHAPEL
6 P.M. 1236 Washtenow Ct.

WASHINGTON P}') - The con-
troversial Concorde supersonic
jetliner produced takeoff noise
levels in its first week of oper-
ation that ranged from slightly'
less than the loudest convention-
al jet in use to more than twice
as loud, the Federal Aviation
Administration said yesterday.
The aircraft produced noise
levels on landing that ranged
from half as loud as the loudest
conventional jet to about 200
per cent louder, the agency
said.
THE AGENCY noted the data
collected at Dulles International
Airport outside Washington were
so limited that no conclusions
could be accurately drawn. It

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plans to continue monitoring the
aircraft and will release a re-
port each month on its findings.
However, it noted the noise
was close to the levels predicted
by Transportation Secretary
Willim Coleman when he agreed
to let the British-French plane
fly into two U.E. airports for up
to 16 months.
Service to the second airport
- New York's Kennedy Airport
-has not yet started,
THE FAA released its first
detailed study of Concorde noise
levels shortly after FAA Ad-
ministrator John McLucas told
Fairfax County, Va., officials
that the agency would not com-
ply with a county noise ordin-
ance that would ban the Con-
corde from landing at Dulles,
partially located in the county.
McLucas told Fairfax that the
copnty's new noise regulation
had no efect on the federal gov-
ernment's decision to allow Con-
corde operations at Dulles.
The FAA decision cleared the
way for Fairfax County to file
suit against the federal govern-
ment. The county originally had
threatened to bring charges
against Air France and British
Airways for viiolating the coun-
ty noise ordinance but decided
last week to sue the government
if it refused to drop its approv-
al of Concorde operations at
Dulles.
The FAA said it received 47
complaints and 11 favorable
comments about Concorde noise

in the first week of operatiu
from residents of the area
Twenty of the complaints came
on the two days the planes made
their inaugural landings a n d
takeoffs at Dulles.
MET EXHIBIT
NEW YORK VP)-"The World
of Franklin and Jefferson" is
now on view at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York--in
exhibition form. The show con-
sists of a selection of artifacts,
paintings, manuscripts and pho-
tographs illustrating 130 years
of American history, 1700-1830.
The exhibition was designed
by the Office of Charlesand Ray
Eames with the cooperation of
the Metropolitan Museum for
the American Revolution Bicen-
tennial Administration, through
a grant from IBM Corp.
During 1975 the American Bi
centennial was inaugurated 'a
Europe with showings of this
exhibition in Paris, Warsaw and
London. This premiere showing
in the United States will be at
the Metropolitian Museum until
May 2. The exhibition will sub-
sequently be seen at the Art In-
stitute of Chicago and the lOs
Angeles County Museum of Art
PORTRAITS ACQUIRED
NEW ORLEANS IP)-Two por-
traits by early American artist
Gilbert S t u a r t have been
acquired by the New Orleans
Museum of Art.
The museum said the portraits
were "Major Peter Fort" ald
"Mrs. George Williams."

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"THE NORTH BEACH GANG"'
Tuesday, Jume 8 - Sumday, June 1
8:00 P.M.
Friday and Saturday evening
1:00 and 10:30 P.M.
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$1.25
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