Word: piloting
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...Fiesta, the world's largest event of its kind. As soon as we took off in the cool dawn air, any trepidation I had instantly dissipated. My frazzled New York City nerves melted. I felt as if I were floating on water--completely quiet, calm and still--as the pilot, two other passengers and I let the breeze carry us about seven miles from our launch site. Although we were moving, it seemed as though we were standing still and the world around us were changing vistas...
Some who have ventured to Albuquerque over the years have enjoyed the sport so much that they have become experienced pilots in their own right. But this is not an inexpensive pastime. Buying a used balloon to train on costs $6,000 to $8,000, and a new balloon averages about $25,000, says Carolyn Grantham, partner and vice president of finance for World Balloon, an Albuquerque ballooning company that also teaches the sport. Custom-designed, special-shaped balloons can run as high as $200,000. At Grantham's school, one of a handful in the nation that are certified...
...mystery it posed. Just as the sun rose over the languid beaches in the crook of the elbow-shaped playland of Cape Cod, early-morning strollers were astonished by surprise visitors. Lying helplessly in shallows near the town of Dennis, Mass., like so many black boulders, were 55 grounded pilot whales. Although nine of the whales soon died or had to be put down (with lethal injections of sodium pentothal), rescuers managed to push 46 others...
With its shallow waters and shifting sands, Cape Cod has long been a graveyard for both man and whale, especially pilot whales. In this treacherous terrain, the whales' critical echolocation system--those telltale clicks whales depend on for everything from avoiding predators to finding a mate--can easily become confused. Yet even after years of studying these big-brained creatures, scientists admit that's only an informed guess and doesn't explain groundings elsewhere. "I could give you an unlimited number of scenarios," says veteran Smithsonian cetologist James Mead, "and because we know so little about whale biology...
What is known for certain is that pilot whales (which are actually large dolphins) are highly social creatures. They travel in pods that can be several hundred strong, usually led by a dominant male. If the leader loses his way while hunting a favorite food like squid, the rest of the pod will follow, even onto a beach. The closely knit whales will also converge on a calf that has accidentally grounded and is clicking and squeaking in anguish. In neither case, however, do scientists regard the whales' behavior as a suicide impulse. "That's old folklore," insists Joseph Geraci...