One of the Joys of Aviation
by Bill ~ February 26th, 2009A couple evenings ago I received an email from Bob, a fellow pilot, who has an interesting Web site about his flying experiences, The Joy of Aviation.
Bob has begun the intensive work (fun) required to become instrument rated. Admittedly, all flying is fun to some of us “hard cases,” but some of the training is very, very intense. So, his email stated, “I tell ya, I wanna get out tomorrow for some RECREATIONAL flying. Soo… badly, I’m seriously considering coming down to see you. I was supposed to go to Alton Bay with my Cuz on Thurs, but that looks like it’s going to get weathered out. He doesn’t think he can get off tomorrow. So… I’m looking your way.”
My response was, of course, to “come on down, I’ll take you to lunch.” (One of those $100 hamburgers that pilots talk about. One of us, however, enjoyed the Jambalaya special at Coakley’s in Havre de Grace.)
Now, by car, we live 275 miles and five hours of drive-time apart. Obviously, that is not convenient for a “lunch meeting” (which we can call a meeting because we are in the same business and collaborate on occasional projects).
With about an hour and a half of flight time in a C-172 (that’s a Cessna, small 4-place aircraft). Bob’s last email gave his time of arrival and departure like this: “I have to be back at home by 5p…wheels off by 2/2:30p so how’s a 12:00 arrival sound? I’ll need fuel, probably upon arrival would be best.” Continue reading »
