Unplugged: March

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Catching Some Air

by Suzanne Hurt

Placerville Airport is nearly deserted at 8 a.m. on this chilly Sunday. Dozens of small planes wait quietly atop a 2,500-foot plateau.
    An ultralight trike with wings outstretched sits at the mouth of an open hangar. Don Bradley pushes this powered cousin to the hang glider onto the taxiway and straps himself into the pod — an open cockpit with a small seat and minimal controls behind a tall, narrow Lexan plastic windshield.
    The propeller starts with a whine. He taxies the Antares 912 to the runway. He presses the foot throttle and accelerates down the runway until the trike reaches 55 mph. He feels the ultralight hop 10 feet into the air, then climb about 900 feet a minute to level off at 4,000 feet. The nose points east toward the snow-dusted Sierra Nevada range.
    The 36-year-old, who’s been flying ultralight trikes for nearly three years, works as a capacity-planning analyst for Intel in Folsom. He says flying helps him recharge from career demands. “Flying is such an… addicting is a bad word. I’d say flying is so fulfilling. It helps me cope with corporate America,” he says.
    At Intel, Bradley helps determine how to allocate silicon resources based on demand and market trends. He manages five other analysts. They determine when to build new Intel wafers, as well as how many and what type.

Continued...

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