And boy did I spent a lot of time in the air...
The weather for the last few days has just been glorious - crystal clear skies, comfortable temperatures on the ground and gentle breezes.
On Saturday, I rode as safety pilot for one of the CAP members doing instrument approaches. We went up to Brunswick GA (SSI) and shot a couple of approaches, then returned home. It was a little bumpy, but not bad, and the sky was clear and beautiful.
On Sunday, I flew the CAP 172 for a little over an hour. It had been a while since I had spent an hour just focusing on proficiency, so I spent the time doing touch and goes, slow flight, steep turns, turns around a point, etc. When I am doing that kind of flying I don't get to enjoy the scenery much, but I think it is important to regularly focus on the basics, and even if I don't get to look around much, I do enjoy the skills work.
After I landed, I noticed a couple of the flying club members pushing their airplane back into the hanger, so after I got the CAP plane back in the hangar, I walked over to chat. As I was chatting with them, another flying club member who happens to have a hangar facing theirs walked up and mentioned that he was going to take his Citabria up for a spin, and asked if I wanted to go with. Gee, twist my arm... Turns out, he was literal in his offer to go up for a spin. And a loop, and some rolls, and a half-Cuban, and some snap rolls, and... To say I had a blast would be a massive understatement. It had been years since I had ridden in an airplane doing aerobatics - back then it was also in a two person tandem airplane with a stick rather than a yoke; the main difference between that plane (a Super Decathlon) and this was that the Decathlon had a fully inverted fuel and oil system, a larger engine and a constant speed prop so it could do more "stuff" . It was just as much fun as I had remembered. For years, I have had a dream to one day own an aerobatic airplane and learn how to perform aerobatics - maybe some day...
As I was walking back to the truck, I happened upon our CAP squadron commander who was just getting ready to go up to do some proficiency flying in the CAP airplane. He asked if I would like to go with. "Sure," I said. I quickly changed back into my CAP golf shirt, and off we went. I hadn't gotten to do that much "sightseeing" on either of the day's earlier excursions, so I took the opportunity to fully enjoy the view while flying with Nick.
I guess this weekend was a good demonstration of that old definition of luck: when opportunity meets preparedness. I definitely felt lucky this weekend.
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Posted by David at November 05, 2007 06:48 PM