When Jen and I strapped into the Grob, we were looking forward to a short enjoyable soaring flight, like the ones we had last autumn. The most memorable of those was where we flew with a bald eagle. Jen loves eagles; the eagle has been her favorite animal since she was four. As a soaring pilot, it naturally makes it my mission to find eagles whenever I take her flying.
Yesterday we had pleasant soaring conditions at Blairstown Airport. We took off a little after 12:30pm, when the soaring conditions peaked. The lift and streeting were wonderful, folks easily got up to 6000ft before the wind shifted around to the southwest and the cirrus moved in later in the afternoon. I climbed up from 1900-3400ft MSL and than ran a street for about six miles from Blairstown Airport to a little beyond the Tocks Island Golf Course to find a solid 10 knotter. Jen noted that the glee in my voice seemed to match the ecstatic tone of the variometer.
As we headed back, Jen spotted two bald eagles below us. Naturally we needed to swoop by them for a closer inspection.
Up until this point, I had been flying very smoothly, completely attentive to making the ride as pleasant as possible.
Seeing the eagles, I got a little… target fixated.
I banked firmly and pushed the nose over. Jen hadn’t experienced partial weightlessness in a glider before and quickly became as white as the bald eagle’s head. The clean Grob accelerated rapidly, the airspeed needle ticking through 60, 70, 80, up to 85 knots. The wind noise got louder and louder and the little speck of bird in the canopy getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger! We swept in several feet above the eagle, who did a hasty split-S and dove away. I proceeded with a climbing turn, converting the airspeed back into altitude.
I anticipated that this maneuver probably scared the bejeezus out of the bird, but I didn’t expect the level of adrenaline I put through my poor girlfriend.
After a couple moments to regain her breath, she clearly conveyed to me her preference to experience eagle watching using more gentle maneuvers.
I spotted the pair of eagles again, and this time I slowed the glider down and pulled out the boards. I slowly tucked Greta into formation with one of them, as close as he would let me go. Jen caught this one on an amazing video. It felt like you could reach your arm out of the canopy and touch his feathers.
After we landed, Jen said that I must be careful with all these eagle soaring flights she has been experiencing, for it may set expectations that every flight results in an eagle encounter. I told her that is true for in the summer time we don’t see them as often as in the spring and fall.
She also said that the poor eagle I dove on will probably be forever traumatized by the vision of an enormous, bone-white pterodactyl that almost turned it into a feathery lunch. His confidence as the master of the skies will be forever questioned by the presence of such monstrous predatory creatures in his midst.
Soaring Economist 
I dont think its right that you are intentionally chasing these beautiful birds with a very high risk of hitting and killing one of them.
We are just guest in their natural environment and should behave accordingly and be thankful for the beauty that they offer to us not to mention all the thermals and lift that they have helped us find and utilize.
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Hey Milan,
Iāve deleted your recent comment on my latest post since it was not relevant to the SSA response, though I figured Iād respond to your original message since you remain passionate about this issue.
First off, I applaud you for being concerned about our feathered friends. You are absolutely right that we are guests in their natural environment. Second, Iāll also grant you that in this particular instance that my interaction with the bird was a bit rougher than would be appropriate. I probably came at him (or her) a bit faster than was comfortable for the bird. I could also understand how you felt that there was a risk to the eagle, though I feel very strongly that in fact I always ensured a safe out for the eagle. Where you have risk for the bird is if you are below them and they get scared; then they no longer have an out and thatās where there is a real risk for hurting them. Nonetheless, I entirely accept that viewing this video could make it appear that the eagle is in danger.
I had read your comment two years ago and have not repeated the experience since. I donāt normally respond to comments on my blog, though I do read them. I have flown with birds since on a number of instances, though it was always in thermals or more-or-less in formation with them, as close as they are comfortable and not violating their peace.
I hope that this response has addressed your concerns.
All the best,
Daniel
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