Tuesday after Memorial Day, my wife and I went to Freeway Airport for a relaxed picnic, and see some flying.
We had an unexpected surprise, as a large field had been mowed on the airport, and it was Kentucky Blue Grass! Roasting in the sun, it provides a gentle, mildly sweet smell, which ebbed and flowed over us with the wind shifts.
The tail wheel pilots here are more likely to have experienced this delicious aroma, as it is most often encountered at grass strips, which they favor.
The pasture next to our house had mixed timothy and bluegrass for hay, and I remember that smell from an early age.
My Father took us to a small grass airfield for airplane rides one Saturday when I was 12, and it was freshly mowed, with that special sweet smell wafting around. The plane was a Piper J3 variant, with the 2 place back seat, my brother and I went up together. The piper guru’s here can tell me what that model was called.
After 2 hours of instruction at a field with J 3’s, but concrete runways, I next flew at College Park, CGS, and it was then primarily grass, mixed bluegrass, and had that smell after mowing.
After receiving my PPL, we flew to Missouri to visit my wife’s family, and landed on a friend’s 4,000 foot by 200 foot runway….Bluegrass! That wonderful smell again! I buzzed her brothers house inbound to land, he picked up the luggage and passengers, and I flew on to the municipal airport, and again, mixed bluegrass where I tied down.
Over the years the bluegrass faded from CGS, and that smell became a memory when I quit flying to Missouri.
And then, we visited Freeway on just the perfect day. The smell was there, planes fired up and flew, the low full throttle rpm of C 172’s mixed with the much higher pitch of C182 and Piper Arrow taking off sounded great. Many take offs and landings, all well performed.
The sights and sounds, I expected, but the smell, a wonderful bonus.
We had an unexpected surprise, as a large field had been mowed on the airport, and it was Kentucky Blue Grass! Roasting in the sun, it provides a gentle, mildly sweet smell, which ebbed and flowed over us with the wind shifts.
The tail wheel pilots here are more likely to have experienced this delicious aroma, as it is most often encountered at grass strips, which they favor.
The pasture next to our house had mixed timothy and bluegrass for hay, and I remember that smell from an early age.
My Father took us to a small grass airfield for airplane rides one Saturday when I was 12, and it was freshly mowed, with that special sweet smell wafting around. The plane was a Piper J3 variant, with the 2 place back seat, my brother and I went up together. The piper guru’s here can tell me what that model was called.
After 2 hours of instruction at a field with J 3’s, but concrete runways, I next flew at College Park, CGS, and it was then primarily grass, mixed bluegrass, and had that smell after mowing.
After receiving my PPL, we flew to Missouri to visit my wife’s family, and landed on a friend’s 4,000 foot by 200 foot runway….Bluegrass! That wonderful smell again! I buzzed her brothers house inbound to land, he picked up the luggage and passengers, and I flew on to the municipal airport, and again, mixed bluegrass where I tied down.
Over the years the bluegrass faded from CGS, and that smell became a memory when I quit flying to Missouri.
And then, we visited Freeway on just the perfect day. The smell was there, planes fired up and flew, the low full throttle rpm of C 172’s mixed with the much higher pitch of C182 and Piper Arrow taking off sounded great. Many take offs and landings, all well performed.
The sights and sounds, I expected, but the smell, a wonderful bonus.