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b8 tribune may 22 1985 must save planet veteran pilot urges by chris shanahan claremont most people know michael robertson as the highflying head of a claremontbased ultralight aircraft operation but theres another side to the veteran pilot a side that were likely to see and hear more of in the near future robertson is con cerned about the general state of affairs today and says its about time all of- us start put ting some energy into saving the planet i think its im portant for us to think of consciousv ness on a global level where we con centrate on working together ratherthan competitively the 42yearold pilot adds and we have to fly this space ship earth hes encouraged by recent famine re lief efforts in africa and is also pleased that a lot of people are coming out of the closet with re spect to their par ticular philosophies and perspectives theres an on going awareness revolution in mod ern society accord ing to robertson who feels its impor tant to link ener gies to try and help on both a local and an international level i think we have to concentrate on a spiritual plane he says adding in flying we try to do these things ahead of time so they dont happen it would be nice if we could do that on a global scale new focus robertson who readily admits the business aspect of flying isnt his strength will now focus more atten tion on promotional and public aspects of the ultralight world he wants to har ness some of the power of modern- day communica tions including the medium of televi sion one upcoming project is a tv program thatll hopefully boost the sport but at the same time use flying as a vehicle to broadcast the con- ciousnessraising ideas robertson views as crucial to the planets con tinued existence champ a former world kite flying cham pion back in the 1960s robertson helped pioneer gull wing gliding in north america and followed this up with worldwide travel during an active competitive career this included many years with the aquarama show as a featured attrac tion on the water front during the canadian national exhibition teaching but as family commitments grew he and wife janet now have three daughters deena four jessica eight and shauna 10 robertson gradual ly began moving into the instruction al side of the field this switch to teaching was prompted partly by the haphazard way he had to earn his own flying wings he claims major strides have been made in air safety despite fre quent negative media reports safety initially he con centrated on teaching hang glid ing through a com pany formed about 15 years ago high perspectives inc a sister operation northern micro- lites was created nearly four years ago to handle a par- ticipation boom sparked by the affordable and ex hilarating phe nomenon of micro- light aircraft public interest in microlights peaked around 1983 then took a nosedive last year according to robertson a lot of it was due to that sensa- tionalistic journal ism he says in re ference to press stories that por trayed it as an ex tremely dangerous pastime in fact robertson maintains northern has never had any flight mishaps re sulting in serious in jury meditation relaxation train ing and a limited in- troduction to meditation com prise part of the flying course offered at the schools headquar ters located on durham regional road 5 west of claremont flying is a form of relaxation and you fly better if youre relaxed he explains in a continuation of his awareness training robertson hopes to devote more time to his stu dies with the darma society of canada under guruteacher namgal rinpoche born and raised in the hamilton area robertson now re sides with his family at rr 2 claremont his business is split equally among teaching sales and a mixed bag of re lated services michael robertson search on for top citizen uxbridge twp the search is on for u x bridge townships 1985 citizen of the year nominations are being received by twp clerk walter taylor po box 190 ux- bridge ont loc 1k0 to be eligible a person must be a permanent resi dent who has lived in the twp of ux- bridge for a mini mum of one year nominations should be submit ted in writing with reasons outlined no later than fri day may 31 uxbridges out standing citizen will be recognized during the opening ceremonies of spring water days june 20 in 1984 citizen of the year hon ors were shared by alma p soper and dr j russell st john beautiful homes begin with st glair stciairplus super white exterior paint 10 year written guarantee formulated for our canadian climate 3iii s 10 j02 95 4l ultimate exterior water repellent wood stain protect and beautify your wood finish for years reg 3195 save now 50 15 97 4l selection of instock wallpaper from these well- known books design house kids collection city scene avenues and high spirits save 50 off the book price 50 ttf every partem every day all wallpaper book orders stclair the paint and paper people sherwood plaza pickle barrel plaza 146 wellington west wycliffe leslie centre 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