Sunday, August 29, 2010

Filght to Grand Marais and Back

Okay, so this posting isn't motorcycle related.  My bike is in the shop, getting some much needed maintenance that I've been putting off since the Arkansas trip.  The downside of a bike with 94,000 miles on it is that the money you saved by buying used is doled out in repairs, the death-of-a-thousand cuts thing.  And my mechanic has the civilian version of my bike, with only 19,000 miles on it, which he is restoring (that's kind of his gig).  But no, for now I'm sticking with Pepper, and she's going to get everything she needs to be road worthy.

So this week, my friend Diane and I flew up to Grand Marais MN - a beautiful little town on Lake Superior.  I flew the Gobosh, and the weather was beautiful, except for strong gusty winds.  I usually try to avoid those, and the timing of the trip north went OK, but the trip back, well, strong gusty winds which were across the runway made for exciting take offs and landings.  I was thinking of working my way up to handling that kind of wind by going with an instructor on a windy day, but it turns out it was me and a first time passenger.  What does a passenger think when the pilot says "fuck!" in the middle of a takeoff?  Diane handled it pretty well, but I'm sure I had her a little worried.  Anyway, it was fun and we made it OK.

So it's like motorcycle riding, in a way.  You need to put yourself into situations where you learn to react.  I spend a lot of time planning flights to avoid weather I'm not comfortable with, but the only way to get better is to try it and survive.  And with gusty winds, you set up for takeoff, and then when the wind changes and the plane swerves or dips you react - hopefully the right way.  Like what you do when a deer jumps on the road in front of the bike, or a cage driver cuts in front of you.  You need to train your reactions, and hope that training works the first few times, and then you have good instincts.

Anyway, I'll put up some pictures later - Grand Marais is beautiful, and Diane took some pics of the flight.

VBecky

3 comments:

Chris Beason said...

Wow! You fly?! I think I'll stick to being a passenger when it comes to planes.

VBecky said...

I think if you can go from passenger to rider on a bike, why not a plane? It's fun, it's a little scary, and I don't do it often because it's way expensive.

Chris Beason said...

Yeah...prolly a good thing I don't have an interest in flying because I sure wouldn't be able to afford it!