All the aircrafts on our flying club have names. Our airfield being right by the beach, most names are bird or sea side related. We got a Shark, a Tucan, a Hawk, a Duck, a Humming bird and soon to be here a Mike Sanding Goat (build by M.H. Balogh out of NY)
Since there are no goats around this area, we needed a name that would represent gliding around the coast, possibly skimming the powerful waves of the pacific. "The seagull" was an idea, but seagulls are quite slick, while the goat glider is anything but.
We needed a name that will match the spirit of freely flying, but from a primitive type. a sort of awkward flying contraption that somehow learned to harness the updrafts of the sea...
And then it hit us.. a Pelican!
Anyone who has spend a summer in Lima is familiar with the ever present company of pelicans surfing above the lift created by the waves on the ocean. Since a kid I've seen pelicans, marveling how could they fly such long distances with barely a flap of their wings. Now an adult with 500+ hour flying gliders plus hundreds more flying paragliders, I can closely relate to the fun the Pelicans must be having while they soar over the sea.
It is settled, the gliders name will be "The Pelican" and I have to say, the more I look at it, the more it resembles a goat glider !
