Don’t Be So Nice

To Glider Pilots

If a teenager were to drive across your lawn or through your vegetable garden what would you do? Call the police? Probably. The driver might be charged with malicious damage.

The Herald’s July 17, 2008 article, about the glider pilots participating in a distance competition from the Sugarbush Soaring Club, treats them somewhat more kindly than they deserve. Curiously the pilots chose not to land on available fields where hay had already been mowed immediately adjacent to the cropland, because plowed ground provides a "softer landing." Croplands are not recreational fields.

One of the pilots offered a free ride in his glider, as if a farmer had time for that kind of recreation. As the article suggests, one of the pilots was most apologetic, but he seemed to be so primarily because he was challenged by a landowner. However, most of the pilots were unapologetic even at the dinner they had booked as a mia culpa.

"We have to land somewhere." Another said, "We would like to land in your field next year."

In one case the pilot’s recovery crew drove a box trailer into the crop to retrieve his aircraft. Another farmer actually helped the pilot and his trucking crew to disassemble the glider and carry it from the field so that they would not destroy more of his crops. He had to delay milking by an hour and a half.

The only soaring with which farmers are familiar is the soaring cost of seed grain, fuel for tractors used to plant and fertilize their fields and labor. The lost corn or wheat or beans will not be available for the livestock next winter or for sale. In most cases with which I am familiar, the farmers were not compensated for the damage to their crops. How does one set a value on that kind of damage?

Agricultural fields are not recreational fields. They are the livelihood of farmers. Perhaps Vermont farms could post landing fees with the soaring company. $500 per landing might be a good start. If the gliders land on any of those crops next year I suspect the farmers will do what any of us would do with the teenager who drives on our lawn or through your garden. Call the cops.

Alan Bond

Rochester