August 22, 2006

IC Best Team

When Pelicans fly in formation, they improve their flight efficiency by 70 to 75%. They can fly farther, easier, and, judging from the beaky-smiles at Daytona last weekend, happier!

Sometimes you'll see a pelican flying alone. Usually he's fishing, or running back home because he forgot his cell phone. But smart pelicans fly together. It's the best way to find fish and the fastest way to get from St.
Augustine to Coco.

It's cool to fly in threes or fours. You can zip along six inches above the waves, as close together as possible, drafting like Tony Stewart just before he flits by Carl Edwards. That's good, and provides some efficiency increase, but the best flights are when 12, 18, 24, or 58 buddies pump together in a perfect "Vee." Wingtips stretched wide, they pull back on the throttle and glide faster than they could ever go if they were flying alone.

I watched a 24-pelican formation power by, and wondered how tough it must be to fly as the lead bird. According to those who study such things, there was no reason to worry about being leader or follower. "The upwash air field created by the vee formation is shared by all its members, including the lead bird. He or she is not a lonely long-suffering martyr out there in front receiving all the cold blasts of the countercurrents."

Each bird (including the leader) flies in the upwash of neighbors, needing less power than when flying alone.

Faster. Farther. Easier. Happier!

TEAM works in exactly the same way at Florida Hospital!

The Bible doesn't say much about pelicans, but the Apostle Paul implies that he understood the value of Formation Flying, and even suggests that actions and attitudes improve the benefits of living as One.

"You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction,"
Paul wrote, "so stay together, both inwardly and outwardly." Ephesians 4:4 The Message

Faster. Farther. Easier. Safer. Better. Happier!

Dick Duerksen
Assistant Vice President
Mission Development
Florida Hospital