February 6, 2009
Serenity at week’s end
…listen
…about the musicAhhhh.
Back on the island, with these vistas of the Puget Sound and its guardian snow-capped Olympics accompanying me home yesterday afternoon. Just wanted to share.
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Lane Savant said,
February 7, 2009 @ 11:46 am
Wow!
When I was a kid back in about ’58
Our father (who lives in heaven now) took us on a San Juan Airlines demo flight out of Friday Harbor.
It was at the wrong time of day for these magnificent sights.
Thanks for posting these.
Glenn Buttkus said,
February 9, 2009 @ 6:14 am
You fly and flit and hover and stall on the winds so frequently that the gulls and crows are envious of your flights, and your insights. Gorgeous vistas for sure, and like Doug, I thank you for sharing….the pics and DreamVista@1:32. Your music always sets the tone for my week, and helps my tired spirit to soar with the Shapiro for some fine dives and maneuvers. How was California?
Glenn
Mike Wills said,
February 10, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
How is the turbulance coming into that small airport. Here in Ithaca I sometimes take a “puddle jumper” back home and this is not for the faint of heart. We’ve had people literally screaming, “Make it stop!!!”
The view of the farm land and Cayuga Lake is fantastic, when the sun is up.
Alex Shapiro said,
February 10, 2009 @ 3:57 pm
Thanks guys; I’m sooooo lucky to be able to enjoy these flights on a regular basis. But yes, there have been just a couple or three memorably turbulent moments that made me wonder about gravity and my imminent relationship to it.
In fact, the flight at the end of the day a couple of weeks ago coming into Seattle’s Boeing Field was one that kept me a little more alert than usual. It was thick cloud cover and very choppy, but my feeling was that as long as the engine kept going, there was plenty of room in the sky for a few sudden, dramatic dips up and down. I’m blessed with a strong stomach and happily, so were the handful of other passengers on this particular flight; no one was in the bag, as they say.
But as we made our now-nighttime descent into Boeing, the winds would not cooperate. We approached the runway, with 500, 400, 300 feet between our little wheels and the tarmac, and the head wind acted like a cross wind and kept blowing to one side of the plane’s nose. This of course shoved the attitude of the plane several important degrees AWAY from the tarmac, which was coming up within seconds. We were so misaligned that I feared that if we landed we’d end up off to the side somewhere. Our wonderful pilot was capable and calm, and wrestled quietly against the gusts. For a moment I thought he might abort the landing and go around again– that’s how much we were pointed in the wrong direction (unlike in a large commercial jet where one is blissfully unaware of what’s in front of them, puddle jumper passengers have pretty much the same view as the pilot, directly over his shoulder. No mystery whatsoever as to what’s going on, plus we can read all the instruments).
At the last moment the pilot was able to yank us straight, and hovered a few feet over the ground as we traversed the runway and he steadied the plane. We landed a little hard, the wind shoving the gear slightly sideways, but we landed. The old adage, “any landing you walk away from is a good landing” passed through everyone’s mind, I think. We were all happy to be down.
Another time coming into Friday Harbor last year, there was a similarly dicey landing where as I recall it wasn’t that we were pointed the wrong way, but that the wind kept see-sawing the plane’s wings up and down, left-right-left-right. It was rather like being in a Martini shaker. I think the wheel on one side of the plane hit the tarmac before the other.
I still believe that it’s far more treacherous to get into our cars and drive on the freeway than it is to fly. And I trust a great pilot far more than I trust myself!
Glenn Buttkus said,
February 11, 2009 @ 6:39 am
Snow, gosh, more snow here in the South Sound yesterday, and west of here over near Shelton. The roads were fine, but one never knows when it starts dumping. Did you get a whisp or two up there in SJ Paradise? I’m sure it made you smile if it did, putting more wood in the stove, letting the cats stretch out in the warmth, watching the deer much bird seed in the yard. Did that young buck ever come back and slam the bird feeder against the window again?
Glenn
Alex Shapiro said,
February 11, 2009 @ 1:19 pm
We DID awake to quite a wisp of snow, in fact. None of it stuck because it was 36 degrees out, but really big, soft flakes fell with great intent from the sky, leaving white splotches of icy roundness on the deck and cars. It was beautiful and I most definitely was smiling!
That buck has been back, but only to munch the salal and a choice landscaped plant or two, since I haven’t refilled the feeder (much to the chagrin of some birdies, I’m sure). I suspect my compositions may be suffering, without such ardent rhythmic accompaniment!