Just think about those old mail flights

And we complain about a few rain drops or a little snow, just think what it
was like flying mail back in the 30's. even now I see Fedex (Cessna 208)
sneaking in low (very low) over the bay and under the fog to get into EKA.
Those are the days I'm out fishing, and flying later when the fog
lifts/burns off, normally in time for lunch. Yea, I know retirement is
tough, but after 8 years I'm getting use to it, but now that my wife has
retired, I'm having to pay more attention to the honey-do list. She is
sorta of insisting I find and patch that leak in the roof. I thought I was
doing pretty good, I did get a bigger bucket for it.
Clyde

Yeah, those flights gave one a sense of accomplishment.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

Clyde
Can you imagine those same pilots arriving over their destination
airport by DR, finding an over cast (undercast) and deciding to spin
down through the goo to break out at "minimums"? Talk about ballsy?
But, that same technique has saved my tookus twice that I can think of
when crop spraying in Pawnees. once in Louisiana and again in
Mozambique.
I've frozen my tender body in Stearmans while giving instruction in
winter, and thought of those intrepid pilots doing airmail runs with
little or no aids to navigation and certainly without creature
comforts. Tough bunch...or perhaps crazy to do what they did?
I hold enormous admiration for their exploits and accomplishments.
Ol SOB

wrote in message
oups.com...
Clyde
Can you imagine those same pilots arriving over their destination
airport by DR, finding an over cast (undercast) and deciding to spin
down through the goo to break out at "minimums"? Talk about ballsy?
But, that same technique has saved my tookus twice that I can think of
when crop spraying in Pawnees. once in Louisiana and again in
Mozambique.
I've frozen my tender body in Stearmans while giving instruction in
winter, and thought of those intrepid pilots doing airmail runs with
little or no aids to navigation and certainly without creature
comforts. Tough bunch...or perhaps crazy to do what they did?
I hold enormous admiration for their exploits and accomplishments.
Ol SOB

Yep, big brass ones. The survival rate was not good. You had to have been
a little crazy, to take on those kind of odds.

Curious, but how did you get above the clouds, while cropdusting?
Re-positioning flights?
--
Jim in NC
--
Jim in NC

Jim
In mozambique it was! The terrorists came to my strip and I had to get
the hell out in a hurry! Thunderstorms moved in and I got caught
between layers while trying to get back to home base about 75 miles
away.
The first time I got caught in a fogbank in Louisiana and struggled to
keep rightside up while climbing. Tops were only about 1200' and I got
a heading back to the strip. There was a hole right over the strip and
I could see the ground so spun it down. The tops were solid as far as I
could see and I only had a little over an hour of fuel on board with a
full hopper of toxic stuff (4-2-1) and didn't want to crash with it on
board! Those were my stupid days!!