gil_mor
Pre-takeoff checklist
Well, cremated ones anyway, but still interesting - to me at least.
A fellow pilot told me he was asked to spread the ashes of the parents of someone over a mountain that looked over their house.
"Wanna come?"
Now, I'm not big into dead people, but I do like flying, even in the back seat.
The first thing I learned is that the ashes are SECURE in those urns.
It took the designated "Aerial Ash Scatterer" quite a while to get the bags from the urns.
The 2nd thing I learned is that they are HEAVY, I'd say 10lb each.
The Scatterer, who clearly has done this before tied them together, and then tied a 15?ft long rope around them so he can throw them out the window and make sure they don't hit the tail.
When we got to the drop zone, the pilot slowed down to about 40knots, using I think 20[FONT="]°[/FONT] flaps.
At this point the Scatterer tied one end of the rope to his hand (!), made small cut in both bags, opened the window, and put the bags out!
He figured that as soon as the bags get to the end of the rope - they will "explode" and scatter the ashes in a matter of seconds.
I was looking from the back seat and was watching while thinking "I don't want to feel like Big Lebowski"
It actually worked out really well, and we got a little emotional, last resting place and all.
Later in the day, I went flying left seat alone.
I basically covered all the checkride stuff, to stay in shape.
Plus a 3000AGL buzz for my Girlfriend.
Plus first solo landing at the (USS) Sedona.
Plus, my first low flying over a non airport - there is a wide dirt road I know, that I feel comfortable landing on in case my engine quits, so I flew pretty low above it for about a mile.
Had really good landings and was really happy with my Sedona landing.
With all the IFR training, I think it was good to take a break and actually enjoy flying - just for flying (and building hours) sake.
A fellow pilot told me he was asked to spread the ashes of the parents of someone over a mountain that looked over their house.
"Wanna come?"
Now, I'm not big into dead people, but I do like flying, even in the back seat.
The first thing I learned is that the ashes are SECURE in those urns.
It took the designated "Aerial Ash Scatterer" quite a while to get the bags from the urns.
The 2nd thing I learned is that they are HEAVY, I'd say 10lb each.
The Scatterer, who clearly has done this before tied them together, and then tied a 15?ft long rope around them so he can throw them out the window and make sure they don't hit the tail.
When we got to the drop zone, the pilot slowed down to about 40knots, using I think 20[FONT="]°[/FONT] flaps.
At this point the Scatterer tied one end of the rope to his hand (!), made small cut in both bags, opened the window, and put the bags out!
He figured that as soon as the bags get to the end of the rope - they will "explode" and scatter the ashes in a matter of seconds.
I was looking from the back seat and was watching while thinking "I don't want to feel like Big Lebowski"
It actually worked out really well, and we got a little emotional, last resting place and all.
Later in the day, I went flying left seat alone.
I basically covered all the checkride stuff, to stay in shape.
Plus a 3000AGL buzz for my Girlfriend.
Plus first solo landing at the (USS) Sedona.
Plus, my first low flying over a non airport - there is a wide dirt road I know, that I feel comfortable landing on in case my engine quits, so I flew pretty low above it for about a mile.
Had really good landings and was really happy with my Sedona landing.
With all the IFR training, I think it was good to take a break and actually enjoy flying - just for flying (and building hours) sake.