The chemist in the office next door to me at UAA has been promising to take me flying for a while now. He owns a Super Cub.
It's parked at Birchwood, AK (about 30 minutes up the road from Anchorage).
It's yellow.
It has big poofy tundra tires.
Today he took me up and let me fly it a little. We flew into a canyon, and over a glacier, and landed on a bush strip at the foot of another glacier. I think he only used about 200 feet. (He did the landing, not me.)
Wait a minute, let me say that one again... we landed on a little pile of rocks at the foot of a glacier.
We got out and walked around the moraines. I ate a tangerine.
It was amazing beyond words. I took some pictures, but crappy digital photos simply have NO HOPE of capturing anything remotely close to the awesomeness of this flight. (I will post them anyway, as soon as they're downloaded.) Also my camera batteries died halfway through.
I asked him who maintains the strip. He said, "Maintains? Huh?"
Where we were, there is no radar. No radio contact. No roads. We were carrying lots of survival gear on board.
He says he knows somebody who can teach me to fly tailwheels.
He also says that he's considering renting his plane out to Extremely Trustworthy People so that it can get flown more often.
I went back to my office afterwards to work, but I cannot work.
I want more!
--Kath
It's parked at Birchwood, AK (about 30 minutes up the road from Anchorage).
It's yellow.
It has big poofy tundra tires.
Today he took me up and let me fly it a little. We flew into a canyon, and over a glacier, and landed on a bush strip at the foot of another glacier. I think he only used about 200 feet. (He did the landing, not me.)
Wait a minute, let me say that one again... we landed on a little pile of rocks at the foot of a glacier.
We got out and walked around the moraines. I ate a tangerine.
It was amazing beyond words. I took some pictures, but crappy digital photos simply have NO HOPE of capturing anything remotely close to the awesomeness of this flight. (I will post them anyway, as soon as they're downloaded.) Also my camera batteries died halfway through.
I asked him who maintains the strip. He said, "Maintains? Huh?"
Where we were, there is no radar. No radio contact. No roads. We were carrying lots of survival gear on board.
He says he knows somebody who can teach me to fly tailwheels.
He also says that he's considering renting his plane out to Extremely Trustworthy People so that it can get flown more often.
I went back to my office afterwards to work, but I cannot work.
I want more!
--Kath
