MOUNT NEBO STATE PARK - Ricker Goldsborough caught a great thermal and just kept on climbing.
He rose slowly in the skies above Mount Nebo, a halfdozen miles west of Dardanelle, until, from the ground, he was small enough to look like a bird. The main thing that distinguished him from the birds were his bright green and purple wings.
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Goldsborough, from Madisonville, La., was just one of the hang-glider pilots who gathered at Mount Nebo State Park recently for the 15th annual End of Summer Fly-In held by the Central Arkansas Mountain Pilots.
Glider pilots take advantage of lift provided by air deflected from a mountain, either upward from (ridge lift)or over the peak (wave lift); or from rising columns of warmer air, or thermal lift, more commonly known as thermals. Pilots in Arkansas often reach altitudes of 4,000 to 6,000 feet. On a really good day, they can climb to heights of 9,000 feet or more. And if conditions are right, they can stay in the air for hours.
Goldsborough and his fellow glider pilots circled above the mountain for much of the afternoon, crisscrossing in the skies. Roxy Slagle of Russellville, girlfriend of glider pilot John Jenkins of Dardanelle, and a pilot herself, kept her eyes skyward after Jenkins launched.
"How long will he stay up there?" asked a friend.
"Oh, hours maybe," replied Slagle. "He's been known to stay up there till dark."
Style, Pages 21 on 09/02/2008