PLAINVIEW, Tex. — They call this part of the world the giant side of Texas, just under the panhandle, where the crunchy brown fields and watercolor skies seem endless, with the occasional cluster of pine trees standing as conspicuously as skyscrapers.

From his perch thousands of feet in the air, Dr. Michael T. Graves had the best vantage point, traversing over open land and the tiny city with downtown streets paved in red brick. The long-winged aircraft he was piloting had a single propeller, but it wasn’t running. Instead, on this afternoon, he was using rising columns of warm air called thermals to lift him higher and higher.

Dr. Graves, 64, is the sole urologist covering an area of at least a half-dozen counties. His work can be sedentary and stressful. Some days, he spends hours in the operating room. To counteract that and to burn off energy, he rides motorcycles and swims and soars, taking part in the sport of using sailplanes, often without engines, to fly.