Toby
Cleared for Takeoff
I was upstate in Cooperstown for a few days this week and got to go flying. Through a series of interesting coincidences, I met up with a guy in the area who has a Supercub, a Staggerwing that he's in the process of restoring, a Tiger Moth, and an Auster. I had interviewed a student on my home campus for an article for one of our recruitment brochures, and at the end of the interview I'd asked her for some biographical information. Where was she from? Cooperstown! And, to my great luck, her next door neighbor was this pilot I mentioned above. She gave me his phone number, and we made plans.
We went up on Wed. night, so I was forced to miss the 2-hour dinner in the hotel with the dreary keynote speaker who thanked everyone and his brother for organizing this vital conference and who talked for an hour about nothing much while everyone tried to eat. ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz.
Ed and I flew all over the area -- Otsego Lake, Glimmerglass State Park, the Susquehanna, etc. -- on a sunny, glowing evening. We landed on 5 or 6 grass strips along the way that belonged to friends of his, and we buzzed several more. I got to do a lot of the flying. It was my first time flying from the back seat, where I could see NOTHING! No instruments, nothing out the front. All I had was my peripheral vision. It was cool. I started the takeoff roll, rolled forward for a few seconds, and he started indicating with his hands to go up, so up we went. I couldn't see my altitude or anything, so every so often I'd ask him how I was doing, and he'd say, "You don't hear me screaming, do you?"
We landed on one strip on top of a mountain. One end of it was pretty much on the edge of a cliff, and the other ended at the barn and clothesline. We landed in the direction of the clothesline and managed to stop in a really short distance. I have no idea how short, but it felt like 50 feet! I was trying to find the windsock, which was really just a tattered orange flag, but I just looked at the way the pillowcases were blowing. That was good enough.
Anyway, attached are some pictures, if you're interested. I took about a hundred, but I'll spare you. There's a photo of the hotel I stayed in, and some of Otsego Lake from the ground. The woman running toward the plane is an artist who lived for many years in NYC and now lives in Cooperstown. She keeps her yellow Cub in the barn.
We went up on Wed. night, so I was forced to miss the 2-hour dinner in the hotel with the dreary keynote speaker who thanked everyone and his brother for organizing this vital conference and who talked for an hour about nothing much while everyone tried to eat. ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz.
Ed and I flew all over the area -- Otsego Lake, Glimmerglass State Park, the Susquehanna, etc. -- on a sunny, glowing evening. We landed on 5 or 6 grass strips along the way that belonged to friends of his, and we buzzed several more. I got to do a lot of the flying. It was my first time flying from the back seat, where I could see NOTHING! No instruments, nothing out the front. All I had was my peripheral vision. It was cool. I started the takeoff roll, rolled forward for a few seconds, and he started indicating with his hands to go up, so up we went. I couldn't see my altitude or anything, so every so often I'd ask him how I was doing, and he'd say, "You don't hear me screaming, do you?"
We landed on one strip on top of a mountain. One end of it was pretty much on the edge of a cliff, and the other ended at the barn and clothesline. We landed in the direction of the clothesline and managed to stop in a really short distance. I have no idea how short, but it felt like 50 feet! I was trying to find the windsock, which was really just a tattered orange flag, but I just looked at the way the pillowcases were blowing. That was good enough.
Anyway, attached are some pictures, if you're interested. I took about a hundred, but I'll spare you. There's a photo of the hotel I stayed in, and some of Otsego Lake from the ground. The woman running toward the plane is an artist who lived for many years in NYC and now lives in Cooperstown. She keeps her yellow Cub in the barn.
