On Sun, 25 Nov 2007 09:12:17 -0800, "Panic" wrote:

Some thought to ponder when someone asks you if you miss flying....
Add your own thoughts and keep it
moving....................

Hmmm, nobody from the lighter end?

Crossing over Lambert-St. Louis at 10,000', looking down at an F-4
Phantom several thousand feet below... listening to "Sounds of
Silence" on the ADF in a rented C-172 on a student cross country...

Landing on the Mississippi River levees in the flight school's C-150's
(strictly against the rules, but everybody did it)...

Age 17, with the ink still wet on my PPL, getting a few hours of acro
instruction in a Stearman...

Cruising up the coast of NJ over a low fog bank, only the tops of the
Atlantic City towers sticking up out of the fog...

Another NJ coast cruise, getting bounced by a P-51 who must have been
doing 400+ mph... I _heard_ him over my own engine noise before I saw
him...

Best not say anything about a high bridge in a remote mountain pass...

Going cross country in the Taylorcraft and meeting up with a
Stearman... he does a loop, I do a loop... he does a snap roll and so
do I... I do a hammerhead and so does he... then he rocks his wings
and flies off, and I continue on my way...

Packing a picnic lunch and taking the girlfriend for a ride, landing
in a little clearing out in the woods somewhere...

Flying formation with another plane to an airport about 100 miles
away, no radios... each thinking the other pilot was doing the
navigating...

Making an emergency landing in a farm field in the middle of nowhere,
and seeing a rusty wind sock frame in the weeds after I step out of
the plane... fixing the problem and continuing on my way...

Flying a powered paraglider for miles below treetop level, following a
meandering stream, occasionally dipping my feet into the water...

Flying up the Hudson River slot, dipping my wing to the lady standing
in the harbor...

Landing the powered paraglider on an island beach on a hot day, then
flying back to the airport after relaxing on the beach for a while...

The first flight in my single seat ultralight, after not owning a
plane for 10 years or so...

Finally realizing I have the feel of the new plane, and heading out
around the local area instead of just staying in the pattern and
practicing landings... that was just this afternoon...


Hah! I don't MISS flying, another chapter is just beginning...

-Dana




--
--
If replying by email, please make the obvious changes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the other, er, um....