Episode 184: Caroline Paul

Caroline Paul is an adventure seeker. She’s been a white-water rafting guide and pioneered first descents on unexplored rivers in Borneo. To experience wing walking, she strapped herself to the top of a biplane while it performed maneuvers like loops and rolls. She’s also racked up credits as a luge athlete, that crazy sport where you race down steep, icy tracks on small sleds, lying on your back. Now, Paul pilots a gyrocopter, a machine that might remind you of a praying mantis with wings. Paul says she likes to fly experimental aircraft because they connect her to nature and the possibility of change. We talk about how the thrill of flight relates to themes of love and why Paul says it’s easier to learn a landing than a human heart.