You learn interesting things flying. I noticed this flag on the tail of a jet at SBA.
8731 Rampant Lion
I thought at first it was German, but one of the airport managers said it’s Belgian. So just now I googled “Belgian Flag” and came up with a boring flag with a few colored stripes. So next I googled “Lion Flag” and the Scottish flag called the “Rampant Lion” came up looking quite similar, yet different. Digging deeper I discovered it’s actually the Flag of Flanders, and it too is often called a Rampant Lion flag according to more details found on this site. The jet itself was prim and of course also wearing the Euro Flag.
8732 Flanders Tale
So I still don’t know the tale of the tail flags, but maybe it’s something to do with an E.U. delegation visiting some bigwig in SB? As you can see, it was a glorious day so of course we went flying and within a few minutes another interesting story came into view.
8759 Enigmatic Earthworks
It looks new, and we’ve never seen it before, yet there it was in the foothills above Carp. New dam, perhaps? So back on the ground I posted it on Edhat and looked at the full-res pic in more detail. It seems this is a catch basin to protect Carp from flash floods, and it’s been there for years. In closing here’s a snap of SBA (Flanders Jet circled in red) in case you wonder why, after landing in every state and province, we still say SB is our fave area to fly in North America.
8733 Pilot Heaven
John & Anne Wiley 
Now, I have to do some research on Flanders.. Sheesh. I remember a poem from my youth–and that is all. every day now I have some new thing to look up. I sometimes think I am too old for this, but what else do I have to do, but continue to learn? I spent the last two evenings watching videos of Jackie Evancho, the 11 year old singer. I cannot imagine I had not seen her sooner. As a musician and accompianist, I cannot believe the wonder of this voice. A true angel.
Comment by Marie Mancilla — 2011/12/31 @ 08:47