LIMA-ECHO-TANGO-SIERRA FOXTROT-LIMA-YANKEE
In 1903 the Wright brothers successfully went airborne for 12 precious seconds at Kitty Hawk in the airplane that they built. Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in 1752 in an attempt to bring “a charge from the heavens” and subsequently discovered electricity. https://www.fi.edu/en/science-and-education/benjamin-franklin/kite-key-experiment
For thousands of years mankind has been fascinated with flying. And I am two of them.
looking up
My first time in a plane was at 8 years old out of O’Hare. I slept through most of that one. Ten years later my Rennie took me up in a single engine 4 seater. I was hooked! (What surprised? Remember he’s known as the Renaissance man).
At 18 and in all of the ensuing years and there have been one or two, I have never lost that amazing feeling of freedom. I once told him that if I was ever in a car accident it would be because I was looking up. I am constantly staring at the sky following the patterns created by those magical flying machines. It kind of reminds me of that line from An Affair to Remember.
Da Vinci had this to say,
When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you will always long to return –
not your cup of tea?
Flying isn’t for everyone. I have seen big strong “he-men” grow pale at the thought of climbing into a plane. (Remember B.A. from the A-team, lol). It is amazing how some just take it for granted and others will travel hours and hours by land to avoid hitting the air. Ha! Give me a plane and the sky any time over these idiots that get into a 4000 lb. car and drive at ridiculous speeds and without caution. At least in the sky you have time to duck!
flying isn’t for the faint of heart
It does take a certain person to be able to climb into a 2 seater (or 4) and give over control to that one individual. What you might not realize is what that individual went through to get there. Now I’m kind of lucky. My Rennie flew with the Hurricane hunters in C 130’s. I always figured if he could fly through hurricanes unscathed then we would be o.k. with our travels. But you have to understand, that flying doesn’t just happen. There are hours of book study as well as air time before you make that once in a lifetime take off and landing..solo.
flying has a love language
One of the first things you need to be sure you know how to do is communicate. Communication is essential when you are in the air dealing with control towers as they guide you through those skies and even on the ground. After all you do need to know where to go once you land. To make sure that there are no errors in communication the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) created the aviation phonetic alphabet in the 1920’s. There have been variations in other professions such as law enforcement but this is the internationally accepted language that is used when flying.
a few rules
You may think that once you get a license and make that solo run you are good to go. Any plane at any time, right? Well, no. There are pilots that can only fly when they can see the ground below them and a clear sky above. Those are the VFR pilots (Visual Flight rules). Then you have those that can fly IFR (Instrument flying rules). You don’t have to be as careful of the skies when taking off and you get to fly through some really cool and beautiful clouds.
You can be licensed in single engine or multi-engine and you really get extra cudos for any amount of hours that you put into particular types of planes.
But don’t let me mislead you. Regardless of what rating you have as a pilot the weather is always the boss. (Remember how Ben was wanting to bring down the charge from the heavens?) A thunderstorm doesn’t discriminate with the pilot nor the plane. It can destroy and take down a 767 just as easily as a single engine. Mother nature rules!
a healthy respect
If you are a good pilot then you will always have a healthy respect for flying, weather conditions and all that it can do. I have had the privilege of flying beside my Rennie for many years. He calls me his electronics engineer. And I saw even he swallow really big as we got out of sight of land on our island hopping trip in the Caribbean a few years ago.
I’ve learned a lot too. I swear that I learned to read an aeronautical map before a road map ever made sense to me. In the beginning we didn’t have all the fun bells and whistles. We used paper charts, plates for identifying airports and a big thick book that we looked up airports and places to refuel. There were no headsets. We would have to just listen to the squawking from the radio amidst the engine noise and between the two of us hope we got the message right.
moving into an electronic world
Like everything in our lives we came up the hard and slow way when it came to flying. When they came out with GPS’s Rennie was all agog at the ability it could give in the plane. All I could see was that I was out of a job! I got my nose a little out of joint until he came home later and dropped the new GPS and the manual into my hand and said -learn it! We’re flying in a month. (Guess that will teach me)
The FAA finally certified GPS use in private planes for IFR pilots in 1994. That was a game changer. Since then we have been able to add WiFi, charging stations and Apps that can show us air traffic and anything else that you might want to know while you are up there.
a different view
In 2001 the entire world was in shock when 2 planes crashed into the twin towers in NY. and another aircraft was crashed to save the lives of many on the ground. That day and event will forever be known as 9/11 and when “looking up” got a whole new meaning. One of the loneliest sights I’ve seen is the barren skies that prevailed for those next days after the attack.
off we go into the wild blue yonder…
I have a ton of stories, a lifetime of memories and an unquenchable desire to never have it end. Go flying? OK! Where and when? We have flown across the U.S. from the south to New Orleans, through Texas to Nashville. Traveled across the flatlands to Iowa and Illinois. We spent a week island hopping in the Bahamas and then 2 weeks through the Caribbean 10 years later.
Life is always an adventure with Rennie. It’s been a life worth living and I can’t wait to see where she takes us next!
But for now, this is me. Looking up and squawking 1200
Sassaleeyours…