Newsworthy Articles
Post Cards From The Beach
Flying Tours Offer An Eye On
The Ecology
SkyTours - 410.289.TOUR
July 17, 1994
Tom Horton, Sun Magazine
The concrete and steel high rises,
stone jetties and pavement of Ocean City; or the drifting sand, shrub thicket
and salt marsh of Assateague. From half a mile high there is no doubt which
domain seems more stable and durable; Assateague wins because Ocean City
looks so anemic.
"It takes people by surprise. Their first comments
are almost always how narrow, how fragile the city looks," says Greg
von Rigler, owner and operator of Sky Tours out of the resort's airport
in West Ocean City.
Mr. von Rigler, a former lifeguard who began flying for
a living about six years ago, is hardly the first pilot here to give sightseeing
tours. But he is probably the first to include a solid ecological commentary
on the complex dynamics of the barrior island system as it unfolds below.
A flight in his four-seat 172 Cessna is a superb way to appreciate why
such sand islands are among the Earth's most fluid of landforms.
From on high, he can point out the fantastic patterns
made by shoaling sand, as the ocean moves it from the beach side to the
bay side of the islands. This sand transport is how the islands survive
and grow, even as they erode on their beachfront. Mr. von Rigler explains.
Dredging and bulkheading in 10-mile-long Ocean City tends to offset this
natural process. Most of Assateague's 37 miles feature dramatically broader
meadows, forests and marshes behind its beach.
If customers opt for a long trip(half an hour), Mr. von
Rigler likes to show them the narrow, sand-starved northern tip of Assateague
(its sand diet blocked by Ocean City's inlet), and then head down to Tom's
Cove at Chincoteague, where sand is accumulating so fast the "hook"
there has grown more then two miles this century. "Then it really
hits how dynamic and connected a system this place is," the pilot
says.
Mr. von Rigler says he never tires of the aerial view,
because so much is always changing. Summer brings porpoises and giant manta
rays -- 20 feet across the wing tips -- into the shallows. Deer and pony
trails have worked complex webs into the marshes and bayberry thickets.
The whole beach changes markedly in the winter, because the winds of nor'easters
create a choppy type of wave that erodes the sand dramatically.
For the most part, the sand along Maryland's coastline
has only moved offshore a short distance, remaining in what geologists
call "the active beach," The beach that is visible, like the
tip of an iceburg, is only about 10 percent of the active beach.
The areial viewpoint reveals colors and textures not
conceivable from the ground. The miles of marsh and water, intricately
twined, spread a perfect linen for the artistry of sunlight and wind. In
one extraordinary section along the back of Assateague National Seashore,
the bluish waters of shallow tidal creeks cut into the green felt of marsh
like leaping flames of some fierce, cool fire. Mr. von Rigler's high-wing
Cessna is a good plane for unobstructed aerial photographs.
SkyTours operates out of the Ocean City airport. For
reservations and more information call
410.289.8687(TOUR)
|
Post Cards From The Beach
Flying Pooch a Popular Prop
for Ocean City Air-tour Outfit
SkyTours - 410.289.TOUR
June 8, 1994
Dan Wil, Ocean City Bureau of the Sun
Over Ocean City - Greg von Rigler
is everything a beach pilot should be: tan, barefoot, shirtless, deceptively
casual about flying his Cessna 172. And he flies with his 6-year old chocolate
Labrador, Mate, when the plane isn't filled with passengers. "If
it's a single, the dog always goes," he says with a grin. "But
she doesn't go near the plane while the prop's spinning. I figure, in a
prior life, she got hit by a propeller."
Mr. von Rigler is the owner of Skytours, a two-pilot,
two-plane, one-dog enterprise that offers air tours of Ocean City and environs.
"Little kids love the dog, and they love the flying," he says.
"And Mate loves the flying too, although she shares her owner's insouciance
61 about it; she only looks out of the window when their coming in to land,"
he says.
He flies tourists of all ages over the 10.5-mile stretch
of development that's Maryland's beach resort for $17 a passenger. Or,
there is a deluxe tour: $33, and he'll fly around Ocean City, the 37-mile
sand spit called Assateague just to the south, and offer a running commentary
on the shifting ecology of barrier islands.
"It's evolved into an educational thing," he
says. "They don't walk away from Ocean City with just empty pockets
and a hangover. For the longer rides, I'm working on a whole educational
thing -- for people from Kansas who've never seen the beach."
His own beach education began when he was a member of
Ocean City's Beach Patrol for several summers. "I kept staying later
and later every year," says the former Baltimore resident, the son
of a doctor. He doesn't remember the pull of the sky -- "I just always
wanted to do it." So one summer, he saved his Beach Patrol money,
put it in a certificate of deposit and cashed it in that winter for flying
lessons.
The laid-back attire and matter can't mask the training
imposed by thousands of flight hours and a commerial pilot's license. "Up
in the air, we're all real professional about what we do," he says.
"There is not a lot of room for screwing up."
Now 35, he's owned Sky Tours since 1991 and also runs
a flying service out of Crisfield. Work brings obvious pleasure, and continuing
education. "You can develop as a human being," he says. "I
just keep learning more and more. Today it was porpoises, yesterday it
was a whale. There is always something to learn ... always something to
look at."
Indeed the view is spectactular from 1000 feet. The ocean's
green hues deepen into the horizon. To the south Assateague is bone-white
silver of sand bleaching the afternoon sun. "What do I like about
it?" he asks after a short flight. "Hey, I'm at work right now
-- I'd never get away with this in Baltimore."
SkyTours operates out of the Ocean City airport. For
reservations and more information call
410.289.8687(TOUR)
|
This site is designed and maintained by Internet Business Strategies, Inc..
Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998 Internet Business Strategies, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Ocean City Maryland MD 
|
