When I first saw The Thomas Crown affair--the real one--I became interested in sailplanes. The aerobatics that the McQueen character performed in the movie were daring and exciting and seemed to combine the best elements of auto racing and sailing--two of my passions. It wasn't until I met Pippa Scott, an actress turned producer, that I decided to take the plunge and actually go flying. Pippa had seen one of my (Interview) segments, with me as the 'author' for once, and we met for dinner where we both expressed a fascination for sailplaning. We agreed to go out to the desert to a glider port and get our wings. Flying the German-made Grob was great fun and seeing the world at eight thousand feet through a clear canopy was a lot different than the view through the window of an airliner. "Be careful of the military jets," we were told. "They like to come in along the top of the mountain range." We weren't too far from Edwards Air Force Base. One morning, I looked off to my left and saw a C5 Galaxy at my altitude not more than two or three miles away. It looked huge. One day I arrived at Chrystal to find that there had been a fatal accident. A sail plane had gone down. No one asked if I wanted to fly under the circumstances. Pilots fly. Once airborne, we flew over the crash site and circled to look at it--confront it for all that it signified--because pilots have been taught, or understand by instinct, that danger is best met head-on like the time I heard footsteps running towards me as I was about to enter my house. I pulled the door closed, turned the key to lock the deadbolt securing my children inside the house and turned to walk toward the man who was running at me with the gun. Semper contendere. (Continued in comments)#grob #sailplane #aerobatics #thomascrownaffair #pippascott #chrystalsoaring #edwardsairforcebase #filmmakerslife https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnqt8cGnfwI/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=12ubdffeq8v8j