Vockrather Acker – Neuss, Germany

MY MOMENT

There is a way up, even on the plains.

I was living in Düsseldorf, on the plains of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Alps were far away, but the wish to fly was close. At Vockrather Acker, I learned to launch by tow and earned my German tow-launch qualification.

I also qualified as a launch director, learning to coordinate the pilot and tow operator through the preparations and launch commands until the pilot was airborne. Alongside a new way to fly, I discovered the responsibility of helping someone else take off.

One flight stays especially vivid: on an A-class wing, I climbed so high in the flatland thermals that I eventually used big ears to descend. The plains could lift me, too. Freedom does not always need a mountain; sometimes a new skill opens a whole new sky.