Hovering over Manitoba’s plains won’t be everybody’s favorite strategy to spend time. However for one 91-year-old Winnipegger, it’s what he was nice at.
Glen Buhr first took off in a glider in 1967, when Canada turned 100. Now, 57 years later, he’s lastly retiring from the pilot’s seat.
He has logged 3,621 flights as a member of the Winnipeg Gliding Membership in Starbuck, Man., the equal of a flight daily for over 9 years.
“It was the best way to fly, and it turned out for my part, most likely the easiest way to fly,” Buhr mentioned.
He landed for his final time on the finish of the season in October, in his private glider he purchased just a few years in the past.
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Over half of his flights have been as an teacher, preserving the pastime accessible for youthful generations.
Buhr mentioned he didn’t need to put away his glider, however docs informed him it was time to name it a profession, a minimum of as a pilot. However he mentioned he’ll proceed to remain on as an lively member of the membership, and hitch rides on two-seaters with the opposite 30 members of the group when he can.
“I actually miss flying, and flying by myself,” he mentioned. “As soon as I can’t try this anymore, I’ll miss the individuals.”
Buhr purchased his first glider a 12 months after he joined, which price $3,000 that he cut up with 4 different buddies.
He purchased his latest mannequin round a decade in the past, at $100,000, over 33 instances dearer than his first mannequin. The brand new craft permits him to remain within the air for longer.
“It provides you a much bigger vary, a much bigger flight,” mentioned Buhr. “I used to be checking my logbook, and my common flight time was slightly below three hours, you don’t simply go up there and anticipate to glide again to floor. We prefer to go hovering.”
“It’s just like the eagles, the hawks, gulls, you see them, and so they don’t flap their wings very a lot,” he mentioned. “They only circle in rising air.”
He mentioned the membership has modified so much whereas he’s been a part of it, membership peaked years in the past at round 100 individuals, however remains to be robust with three communal gliders for individuals to make use of and study with.
Buhr mentioned whereas he’ll miss going up as a pilot, he’s nonetheless an lively golfer and will get artful along with his pictures on the snooker desk with buddies, having fun with the retired life.
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