There was a ground fog when I woke up, but it was clearing around 0815, so I got my stuff together and went to the airport. I almost turned back and headed for the Interstate when I drove through a fog bank, but I went to the airport anyway. Good thing, it was severe clear at the airport. The fog bank was in a slight valley about two miles south of the field.
It was chilly this morning, enough so that I had to wear a jacket to do my preflight and for the first part of the flight. The air was smooth, even at 3,000' AGL, there were no bumps. Once more, I only used the GPS to validate the winds-aloft forecast and the course correction required by it and then I shut it off. My airplane has been flying a little right-wing heavy, so I did a little bit of bendology on the trim tab. Next time, I need to unbend about half of the change.
There are few things sweeter than flying along and looking down to see the traffic on the highway is at a dead stop or a crawl, as I motor by overhead at around 120mph. A long time ago, I flew over a highway where a truck had overturned. It was night time and the highway looked like a river of white light up to the point of the conglomeration of flashing blue, yellow and red lights. On the other side of the highway, the river was red.
Decades ago, I flew on a now-defunct airline into LaGuardia Airport in New York. It was nighttime, the airplane flew down the Hudson River, turned over Manhattan as if it was making a pylon turn on the Empire State Building and then flew into "la Garbage". It was a breathtaking sight, the City looked drop-dead gorgeous. You'd never know that there were no shortage of human dramas taking place below the wings: Mothers reading stories to their kids, other kids doing drugs, lovers embracing, people working late, muggings taking place, maybe a junkie breathing his last from an overdose, cops patrolling, maybe some skell capping someone. Just buildings, lights and traffic.
Things always look better at a distance.
(Right, Chimpy?)
No comments:
Post a Comment