John & Anne Wiley

2014/05/13

Air Day

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 07:36

Today was very special for us in so many ways. The most exciting part began when we saw this almost ominous shape appear coming in off the Pacific over SBCC evoking the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo in WWII.

2977 B-25 Mitchell Inbound

2977 B-25 Mitchell Inbound

We’d volunteered to help people tour a group of extremely rare aircraft visiting SBA for a few days. When we heard from the ground crew that they’d be arriving late, we took Tripp for a relaxing flight in the clear air. When I heard this guy contact ATC inbound, it was exciting enough to see it in the distance like this. But then it flew almost beneath us at double our speed, bringing no attack on the homes below but the bygone and all but forgotten distinctive song of two big radial engines once so common here.

2999 Forgotten Tune

2999 Forgotten Tune

We hurried back to the airport, landing just after this beauty so we could help on the ground. Before long a B-24 Liberator taxied in with the flight engineer perched on top like the cowboy in that old nuclear bomb movie.

3089 B-24 Liberator Business End

3089 B-24 Liberator Business End

This was not a welcome sight in the air around a Japanese held island when my dear late friend and father-in-law John F. Humphrey and his ace gunner Claude W. Hawkins sank one of their ships, and shot down some of their fighters and light bombers. Soon my favorite airplane of all time arrived with the siren song of a V-12 Merlin engine: the P-51 Mustang fighter.

3197 P-51 Mustang

3197 P-51 Mustang

This one is especially rare, being the only one built with two seats and dual controls plus the distinction of having flown Eisenhower over Normandy during the landing. It was a long and tiring day out on the hot pavement for us but very rewarding seeing awe in the eyes of children, bliss on faces of aviation enthusiasts, and tears in the eyes of the few remaining men who flew these planes. Then the real excitement began!

3146 Flying In Memories

3146 Flying In Memories

Because the ground crew had one empty seat in the day’s last B-24 flight, they offered it to Anne and me in appreciation. My Perfect Wife watched in delight as I got aboard, and I was awash in memories riding along our familiar coast in this icon of American air power. I climbed up front into the bow turret where Claude spent hours surveying the open sea, and protecting our dear Dad. I surveyed the gauges and controls where he sat for hours using all his exceptional flying skill and youthful wisdom protecting dear Claude and the rest of his crew.

3161 New Mission

3161 New Mission

Now instead of flying young men doing their best to destroy the enemy that had attacked Pearl Harbor, this Liberator faithfully carries a middle-aged pilot and his female co-pilot touring the country so that we can all remember the sights, sounds and smells that were once so familiar to that dwindling generation of quiet heroes. We owe them so much, and miss them so dearly.

2014/05/11

Little To Grand

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random — John @ 08:00

So back on the day we flew from Flagstaff to tour the Grand Canyon, we began small. Specifically, by flying along much of the Little Colorado River’s two forks. This is a beautiful part of the whole Grand Canyon area, because it’s both smaller and less smog seems to reach it and also we’re allowed to fly lower here. This makes it quite striking from the air.

6443 S.Fork Little CO

6443 S.Fork Little CO

We’re actually higher in this pic than we need to be, because we’re already climbing to traverse the main canyon. Even so, we wonder how many people drive that highway not realizing the remarkable views they’re missing. Gradually as we go, the canyon gets deeper and more beautiful. Brown water nurtures the swath of green life at the bottom, contrasting with the stark desert on top.

6459 Building Suspense

6459 Building Suspense

You can almost hear a crescendo of music as the Grand Canyon appears in the hazy distance, when the south fork joins the north fork and the Little Colorado bends toward it. Now the river changes from brown to a bright milky turquoise and the rocks blush red in anticipation.

6471 Color Shift

6471 Color Shift

As we climb higher still and turn across the Colorado River the water flowing far below us changes again, to the cool green flow issuing from deep in Lake Powell.

6480 Lower Marble Canyon

6480 Lower Marble Canyon

In the distance you can see where the Little Colorado joins and the combined flow bends to the right where it will enter the main canyon. Now we’re flying nearly parallel to that strengthened Colorado, gazing down at myriad seldom-seen “side” canyons with their own creation stories, hiking trails and interesting formations.

6492 Huddling For Crossing

6492 Huddling For Crossing

As you can see at the top of the pic Zubair’s now flying fairly near, giving a feeling we’re huddling together in preparation for crossing the immensity of the chasm. (to be Continued…)

2014/05/09

Sedona Again

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random — John @ 06:16

I’m happy we have digital cameras. Back in the film days we’d have at most 100 pix of our day hiking, driving and flying the Sedona area. As it is, I’ve just looked at 400 or so and Anne snapped half again that many. Here then are a few more I’ve chosen to complement those I posted during the trip.

You may recall that we woke at sunrise and drove into town for some coffee. Among our first pix of the day were from Starbux balcony, including this butte with lovely light that the camera couldn’t really capture.

6127 Sunrise Star$$ Butte

6127 Sunrise Star$$ Butte

The sunlit edges show some, but the glow on the pillar at right doesn’t and the sky we were enjoying is completely gone. I was fascinated by the small narrow pillar on top, but couldn’t zoom any closer. After exploring the area by car, on our way back up to the airport to meet Zubair & family we stopped at this roadside viewpoint.

6148 Airport Road View

6148 Airport Road View

Pretty nice! But we remembered from our flight there some years ago, that it’s actually even better from the air. We thought the weather was clearing, so we drove back into town with our new travel companions. Unfortunately, by the time we left them to explore town more while we went flying, the clouds had come in and even some scattered rain showers. Still, we liked the views better.

6194 New View

6194 New View

It’s not just that there are so many more fascinating things to look at, but you can get closer than on the ground and still see what’s beyond and around them.

6199 Red Rock Faces

6199 Red Rock Faces

Also, many of them are not near any roads. Even though we stayed far enough away not to disturb any hikers, they were visually stunning and zoom pix like this came out well. In some places the carved stone was so intricate it was somewhat like Bryce Canyon.

6331 Bryce Impersonation

6331 Bryce Impersonation

There are also innumerable caves, and some must surely have sheltered ancient peoples at some time.

6282 Shadows & Light

6282 Shadows & Light

It would’ve been nice to tour the back country in sunny conditions, but we still liked how the dappled light played on the rocks. But remember that sunrise view from Starbux? Well, as we approached the airport to land after an hour of enchantments we saw it from this perspective.

6316 Above Star$$ Butte

6316 Above Star$$ Butte

The light and color are quite different, and I loved seeing it in context with the surrounding formations. I also got a much closer zoom pic of the little pillar on top.

6323 Pillar Sculpture

6323 Pillar Sculpture

At the highest resolution on my original pic, it looks like some space alien in a lotus position. Vastly more interesting than what we could see from town. Still, when we drove out for our river walk with the family it was awe inspiring to be up close to the timeless stone.

6360 Red & Blue

6360 Red & Blue

By the time we all climbed into our two planes for the short flight to Flagstaff, the lowering light still provided postcard views of the sleepy city outskirts.

6414 Looking Back

6414 Looking Back

2014/05/05

4C Review

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 22:05

Today we’re settled back into Home life enough that I can begin a review of pix from our amazing Four Corners (4C) Adventure. This phase of Remembering our trip is fun, because so many things we’ve now forgotten are refreshed by reviewing the pix. For example, the weather we flew into that first day.

6051 Coastal?

6051 Coastal?

From the forecasts and satellite views, I’d expected coastal low clouds. But by the time we’d found a large hole in the overcast and climbed to this spot somewhere over Carp, it was clear to me that it wouldn’t be clear. Far into our track, I could see fairly solid clouds and some ominously taller ones. While we’re ok to fly over, under or around clouds, we don’t fly in them. Being retired and flying for the views, we don’t need or want to. So, ready to change plans and detour or land at a moment’s notice if clouds didn’t cooperate, we continued on a changed course that kept us closer to airports and highways.

6055 Sun On Stone

6055 Sun On Stone

We were happy to be in bright sunshine by the time we reached this popular rock formation between Santa Clarita and Aqua Dulce. But just as it foreshadowed the much more remarkable formations in the 4C region, that moment in the sun also provided our last bright sky of the day. When we passed the Granite Mountains just past Ludlow, the sky was dark enough that over every airport we passed I was dialing in the next one, ready to abandon our goal of Sedona for the night.

6058 Granite Gloom

6058 Granite Gloom

As we passed the five bridges south of Needles, the afternoon sky looked like dusk.

9633 CO River 5 Bridges

9633 CO River 5 Bridges

But as followers of this blog already know, we did make it to Sedona that first day. After so much zig and zag to stay near roads and airports and to avoid the heavier and lower of the clouds, we got there just at the time dusk did indeed begin to arrive and reach my personal limit of flying when clouds are about. We very nearly stopped in Prescott, but found a small road along a route around the lowest clouds for a shortcut to Sedona. By the time we’d tucked Tripp in and found our way to the fancy restaurant adjacent to the airport, we were well ready to relax, celebrate and enjoy a romantic meal.

191312 Sedona Sunset

191312 Sedona Sunset

Postscript: Often when people see a jet like the one parked behind us, they’ll make some joke about that being our plane (Tripp’s off to the right of Anne in this pic, swapping tales with the other small planes). It’s funny to imagine we’d afford a jet, but I often ruin the joke by explaining what I’d do if given one and the significant cash required to fly and maintain it: Spend a small fraction of that money spiffing up Tripp; maybe buy a Grumman Tiger for the times we’d like to fly a bit higher and faster; set aside a few thousand for Adventures like this; and donate the rest to charity. Like airliners, jets fly far too high and fast for our liking. Tripp lets us dreamily explore our planet in that magical way that only low and slow flight can provide.

2014/05/04

Shiprock

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 07:06

Out in the Four Corners desert there are many wonders that few see other than birds, aviators, native peoples, and dedicated explorers. Though relatively common here, in the hills of SB this rock pillar in a formation not far from Cortez (by air) would be remarkable.

9414 Remarkably Common

9414 Remarkably Common

But emerging out of dust from a distant storm, Shiprock sails a lonely plain.

9608 Shiprock

9608 Shiprock

As we flew nearer and the light angle changed, we could see how the thin ridges of rock (aka dikes) radiate from the rock. A few tall spires like the first one above look tiny at its feet.

0170 Different Light

0170 Different Light

Zooming in again, you can see the different types of rock and some sculpted forms standing like sentinels atop the peaks.

9502 Sentinels

9502 Sentinels

Amid those carved shapes are a few high points where raptors have surveyed the plain for millennia, marking their observatories with white crowns.

9536 Tiny White Crowns

9536 Tiny White Crowns

Lower on several of the sheer sides are countless caves where native peoples once sheltered.

9460 Caves

9460 Caves

At last, passing high above, I snapped this overhead view of this desert ship in a sea of sand paintings. I contemplate the interactions of these people with residents of other areas, and with the wildlife here. I am a hawk centuries ago watching the people below. I see the dream view of someone who watched that hawk, imagining what I see from this magical flying machine. I am above, below, and within those rocks.

9671 Hawk's View

9671 Hawk’s View

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