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Saturday morning began with a call to the
Flight Briefing. I was going on a mission but wasn’t sure where it
was going to take me. I had an idea but things change. I gave
Flight brief a triangle from KGGG , KPSN and LFK. I knew there was
a TFR around Waco. Flight Brief said it was clear weather and no
TFRs. I need to back up, I received a call from a man that wanted
to grant his wife a wish. She always wanted to fly over her
stomping grounds to take pictures and just enjoy the aerial view. Sadly,
the wife has medical problems and they aren’t sure of the outcome.
I agreed to help him with her wish. The flight departure was
Saturday at 0700. Driving to the airport with my windows down, the
breeze was so cool. A little patchy fog here and there and a full
moon or near full was just hanging there. It was the beginning of a
beautiful morning, one that any pilot would hope for to impress the
passengers. Generally, there doesn’t have to be a reason to fly for
me but this was the ultimate. I have never had the pleasure of
doing something like this. My passengers arrived just before 0700
and my aircraft was setting outside the hanger, pre-flight and
visual checks already performed. Now came time to meet these
people. I wasn’t sure what state of mind the lady was going to be
in but after talking with her, you wouldn’t have known anything was
wrong. Very lovely lady and I knew then it was going to be a
pleasure to have her as co-pilot. Another unexpected pleasure was
her daughter-in-law which came along to fly with us. These people were
very personable and easy to get know. I explained to her that this
aircraft isn’t restricted to any one direction. It could go in any
1 degree of the 360 degree circle and that it was her flight. They
already had a plan. We were to fly over Lake of the Pines to give
her husband and son time to get back to there home in Henderson. As
we taxi to 13 and November, I explain what I was doing and that I’m
going to be talking to the control tower and I will have to respond
and that we would have to stop any conversations so that I could do
so. The two ladies showed genuine excitement which gave me a
feeling that this was going to be a fun trip. We climbed out to
2500ft in the direction of Lake of the Pines. The girls were amused
at anything and everything they saw. The morning was a little hazy
but we still could see a good distance. All three of us had a
headset on which made conversation easy. I said, “ Lake of the
Pines at 12 o’clock”. The girls made a comment about the
terminology. We dropped down over Lake of the Pines and flew the
entire length. They saw boats and one of them about out ran us.
After flying the length of lake, the lady called her husband to see
if he had made it home yet and that we were leaving the lake and
headed their way. She did ask if she could use the phone while in
flight because the commercial flight did not allow it. My reply
was, “You can carry guns, knives and do anything you want on my
flight.” They saw Longview, Kilgore, and the Million Dollar Acre.
As we approached Henderson, they would see their friends homes and
places they were familiar with. I thought that to be unusual for
them to recognize where they were but they knew exactly where they
were. The lady said they had lived in Henderson since 1975. They
couldn’t get over all the different bodies of water. The lady would
comment when she saw an unfamiliar body of water and that she didn’t
know that lake was there. We approached her home place and
descended to an altitude that her husband could get pictures and she
could get a better picture also. We made 3 or 4 passes then she
wanted to bank a little further out to fly over her daughter-in-laws
home. We made a couple passes over the house and took pictures.
All the same time recognizing all their friends homes. Then she
wanted to set a course for Lake Striker where her daughter lived.
She called her daughter and told her that we would be flying over
her place in just a little bit to come outside so that she could
see her. Thru the one sided conversation, I could hear the lady
thru the headset but not the daughter. I gathered the daughter
didn’t understand what she meant. She explained to her daughter
that it was her wish to be able to fly where she wanted to and it
was coming true. I’m guessing the daughter became emotional and the
lady did also. Lake Striker was about 10 miles further south. When
the lake became visible, I said “Lake Striker at 12 o’clock. I
noticed the lady looking to the left, then to the right when I said
12 o’clock. Then she saw Lake Striker and pointer toward the nose
of the aircraft and said “12 o’clock", like it had just dawned on
her what that meant. As we approached Lake Striker, we descended
again to an altitude that she could see her daughter better. The
daughter was sitting on her front porch taking pictures as we flew
over. There were tears exchanged and we talked about continuing
life with the hope that things will change for the better. And they
more than likely will. The flight was coming to an end so we
pointed the aircraft toward Longview but I had to do a low pass over
the Rusk Co. airport runway to give the girls an idea what 150 mph
looked like 12" off the ground.. After that we returned to Longview.
On final, I pointed out the VASI lights (Visual Approach Slope
Indicator) so they could see when we
were in the glide slope. I never have been able to make them
work for me. Of coarse when the passengers are a couple girls
like they were, I had to show off and I put the aircraft down fairly
smooth. We are now taxing down 17 and the lady says have we
landed yet. The ladies
seemed to have had a great time and this made the flight most
enjoyable. We said our goodbyes and I offered to do this again if
she wanted to. She said this would be great but she wanted to wait
until after her operation. I am hoping and looking forward to the
next flight. The pleasure of flying these ladies over East Texas is
going to be the most memorable flight I have ever flown and I’m sure
there will be the second.
TO BE CONTINUED: |