flying again
Mar. 2nd, 2006 07:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ewein2412There was military maneuvering scheduled "throughout the Highlands," according to Scottish Information and the NOTAMS ["NOtices To AirMen"], snowclouds over Aberdeen, and a little corridor of clear, empty sky over the snow-covered Cairngorms in between the clouds and the fast jets and parachutes. I flew due north from Perth for twenty minutes at 5,500 feet, nothing below me but snow-covered glen and mountain and forest.
The sense of accomplishment is fantastic. I'd never flown so high on my own, mostly because it's never clear enough. The typical cloudbase keeps you at a maximum of about 3000 feet. Consequently I've never flown over the mountains, at least not by myself.
In pilot terms it's a modest accomplishment. But today, as I pulled on long underwear and woolly socks, I realized I have come to a new perspective on my flight preparations. You know how you always worry about an engine failure in flight, and how you'll manage to survive it? Today, really for the first time, I realized that I was more worried about surviving the conditions on the ground in the Cairngorms than in surviving the forced landing.
Another first for me is the pictures, which I am proud to say I took myself, and yes, I was flying the plane too.
snow over the cairngorm mountains
Tulchan Lodge in Glen Isla (incorrectly identified at first as Dalmunzie House)
Angus and the Firths of Tay and Forth in the distance. On speculation, it's possible this is actually the Firth of Tay and the North Sea (a more southeasterly than southerly view from where I was taking the picture)
There are more here.
I just love flying over snow.
...I am flying
over mountain and meadow and glen
and I like it so well
that for all I can tell
I may never come down again
I may never come down to earth again
The sense of accomplishment is fantastic. I'd never flown so high on my own, mostly because it's never clear enough. The typical cloudbase keeps you at a maximum of about 3000 feet. Consequently I've never flown over the mountains, at least not by myself.
In pilot terms it's a modest accomplishment. But today, as I pulled on long underwear and woolly socks, I realized I have come to a new perspective on my flight preparations. You know how you always worry about an engine failure in flight, and how you'll manage to survive it? Today, really for the first time, I realized that I was more worried about surviving the conditions on the ground in the Cairngorms than in surviving the forced landing.
Another first for me is the pictures, which I am proud to say I took myself, and yes, I was flying the plane too.
snow over the cairngorm mountains
Tulchan Lodge in Glen Isla (incorrectly identified at first as Dalmunzie House)
Angus and the Firths of Tay and Forth in the distance. On speculation, it's possible this is actually the Firth of Tay and the North Sea (a more southeasterly than southerly view from where I was taking the picture)
There are more here.
I just love flying over snow.
...I am flying
over mountain and meadow and glen
and I like it so well
that for all I can tell
I may never come down again
I may never come down to earth again
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-02 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-02 12:31 pm (UTC)marie, marie, hold on tight
Date: 2006-03-03 12:48 am (UTC)Re: marie, marie, hold on tight
Date: 2006-03-03 01:47 am (UTC)It is snowing in PERTH today, now, as I write this. It makes me so happy.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 03:01 am (UTC)I am immoderately proud of my pilot's license, though I am definitely an unambitious pilot.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 03:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 03:14 am (UTC)I took a break from it last September, after renewing my Certificate of Experience, just because it is such a time-and-money eater. I had a bunch of writing deadlines and I just couldn't get the work done and fly at the same time.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 03:25 am (UTC)I could answer your question in detail, but it would disillusion you.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-04 10:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-04 12:55 pm (UTC)Are you above the Arctic Circle?
Date: 2006-03-03 02:24 pm (UTC)Re: Are you above the Arctic Circle?
Date: 2006-03-04 05:44 am (UTC)It's an amazing place to live.
The mountains are bleak, but nowhere near as isolated as the Sierra Nevadas! They say that in all of Great Britain you're never more than 70 miles from the sea, and I bet you're never more than 25 miles from habitation.
Re: Are you above the Arctic Circle?
Date: 2006-03-04 05:46 am (UTC)Another's airplane view
Date: 2006-03-04 08:18 am (UTC)She first rode an airplane in her '70s (and not just one--she went on a world tour). What she saw from the air inspired a series of paintings, including one of her last, a 24-foot mural, which she made at the age of 78 (last link in the list below). It's in the Art Insitute of Chicago. O'Keeffe died twenty years ago this Monday, as you and I were getting ready to graduate from college.
--Cait
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_geok_3.jpg
http://egghead.psu.edu/~ma_tapps/paint/images/a000019b.jpg
http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/images/Sky-Above-Clouds1.jpg
http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_Modern/images/okeefe2_lg.jpg
Re: Another's airplane view
Date: 2006-03-04 09:04 am (UTC)PS:
Date: 2006-03-08 06:26 pm (UTC)Also I looked at your airfield on your website. Is that a grass strip I see? Do you get to use it? I had to fly from Las Vegas all the way to the coast (Frazier Airpark-close to Monterey CA) to fly on a grass strip. Most are just dirt. That light colored strip to the left of the grass strip is a water strip for landing a seaplane.
Re: PS:
Date: 2006-03-09 06:06 am (UTC)Incidentally, would it be all right if I printed the picture you posted above in our flying club's newsletter? I just love that seaplane landing strip. If you don't mind, could you send me the picture in an image file to ewein2412 *AT* yahoo.co.uk.
Many thanks--again--for sharing these great photos.
Re: PS:
Date: 2006-03-09 09:19 am (UTC)I read some of your newsletter and am going back to finish it. Very nice read. Most clubs' newsletter is put out by a retired WWII Navy SeaBee that got a Commodore 64 in 1980 and is still trying to learn how to use it.
Have fun and keep your nose down in the turns.