Monday, 5 September 2011

Flying towards the sun............ safer than Icarus?

In Greek mythology Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. The main story told about Icarus is his attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. He ignored instructions not to fly too close to the sun, and the melting wax caused him to fall to his death.
The Fall of Icarus... Rubens 1636
On my journey home from yesterdays walk I stopped to take a few images of Beeston Castle and the surrounding countryside... and as I got out of the car a Microlight passed over head.
 I admire the courage of people flying these flimsy little aircraft and as he passed overhead and disappeared into the distance towards the sun... the story of Icarus came to mind...
Icarus tried to fly like a bird.... we use better technology these days.

I trust he got home safely... he can still be seen in this image.

This is my post to Sky Watch Friday: http://skyley.blogspot.com/
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17 comments:

  1. grammie g5 September 2011 at 20:16

    HI Andrew..You have the most eclectic posts lol..
    Love it !!
    Great shots of the Microlight...I just wonder about those people I don't admire there courage ..I just think they are daffy!!

    Grace : }}

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  2. grammie g5 September 2011 at 20:18

    PS By the way I need to change my profile picture it is showing only my stomach on some peoples comment like your's hahahaha!!

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  3. Unknown5 September 2011 at 20:27

    Great post Andrew!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  4. Adam Tilt5 September 2011 at 22:11

    Looks like you are having better weather than us at the moment. No chance of flying too close to the sun here as you'd get lost in the clouds on the way!

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  5. Bob Bushell5 September 2011 at 22:39

    Your pictures are stunning, especially the sun in the last one, glorious.

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  6. TexWisGirl5 September 2011 at 23:07

    love those first and last shots. truly lovely. and i hope your flyover friend reached safety too. :)

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  7. ADRIAN6 September 2011 at 05:52

    The last image really looks good Large. I bet the pilot gets some good images.

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  8. Unknown6 September 2011 at 13:34

    Including Icarus on this post was a very clever idea. The bottom shot is fantastic.

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  9. Karen @ Pieces of Contentment7 September 2011 at 00:51

    The age old fascination with flight! My husband began to learn paragliding (a little different to hang-gliding) last year, not nearly as easy as it looks apparently.

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  10. Tina´s PicStory8 September 2011 at 20:56

    Great skywatch :)

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  11. Inger-M8 September 2011 at 21:29

    Thanks for that little reminder of history, and for the gorgeous blue sky!

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  12. Jim8 September 2011 at 21:50

    Great sky shots.

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  13. Sylvia K8 September 2011 at 23:51

    What a terrific post for the day, Andrew! And bringing Icarus into your post is perfect! I agree with JM, the last shot took my breath away! Superb capture. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy!

    Sylvia

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  14. eileeninmd9 September 2011 at 01:03

    Cool capture and a lovely sky. Great photos, Andrew. Happy Skywatching!

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  15. Jackie9 September 2011 at 14:47

    I took a look at the blow up of the last shot too, beautiful, great photo's. I couldn't find the hang glider in it though. My first husband used to hang glide, funniest time was when he came down in a bog, he got very wet.

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  16. LindyLouMac9 September 2011 at 15:34

    I have joined the Skywatch meme for the first time this week, calling by to visit you as another participant.

    The last photo is simply stunning a great welcome to your blog for me.

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  17. Tatjana Parkacheva10 September 2011 at 16:04

    Very nice post.

    Regards!

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