With the Engine of Youth, Let Us Fly!

At an airfield in Gopo-ri Songsan-myon Hwasung-shi, Gyeonggi on November 6, multi-colored super lightweight aircrafts are standing in line ready to fly.

The aircraft that I was ready to board was the “Skyranger” which offered two seats. With its total length of 5.6 m, wingspan of 9.5 m, height of 2 m, and weight of 225 kg, it truly is an Ultra Light Plane (ULP). The 65-horsepower engine is two-cyclical.

The pilot is instructor Lee Gyu-ik, 38, who is a veteran pilot with a 15-year flight record ever since his days as a young cadet in the Air Force Academy. He has also been on a national team of hang-gliding and currently runs a flight club “Aeropia” to propagate the super lightweight aircraft.

It is not even easy to stretch one’s legs in the airplane once seated. With the seatbelts on, one cannot see any handles around. The dashboard has a speedometer, an altimeter, and a RPM, but it still feels as if I’m sitting at a video game machine at one of the entertainment centers.

“Can this awkward-looking machine fly?”

It is only a moment to feel “half fear and half excitement” while seated in the super lightweight airplane for the first time. As the instructor shifts the throttle lever up (which works as an accelerator), the engine-generated power increases and the airplane glides forward smoothly. One is beside oneself with the deafening roars of the engine and the propeller even with the headphone set on. Through the headphone comes the voice of the instructor saying, “We are taking off now. Hold on tightly.” At about the point of passing the runway at 200m, the head of the airplane rises up to the sky.

“Ah. Now I’m really flying.”

I thought I was slowly rising but we were already at an altitude of 700 feet (about 210m). The airplane took off at the Oesom and flew over the Sihwa Industrial Complex. The fear has already gone away, and my suffocated mind was finally free. Through the rocky windows, one can see all the way down to the coastline and Sihwa Lake’s tide embankment. The wooded boats floating upon Sihwa Lake looked like little toys and as small as finger nails and so cute.

“The land whiled overlooked from the sky is so small. How much are we attached to the small things in life?”

The instructor places my hand on the control stick saying that I should fly it now. As soon as I pull it forward, the head of the airplane begins to drop quickly. As soon as I pull it backward, the plane rises. The control stick is so sensitive that any beginner would get puzzled over it. The airplane, now close to the land, set its foot lightly on a runway as large as a playground.

Rockiness for a moment is not much of a shock. It is just rocky as a Jeep running on the unpaved road.

The half hour of the flight passed by so quickly like that.

Eosom (Hwasung, Gyeonggi)= Reporter Chung, Jae-youn, jaeyuna@donga.com