Logbook Tales – A Day To Cherish

• By Michael Smart
• October 16, 2015
• No Comments

For Jason, remembering our first long cross country together

You, my dear Jason, developed an early yen for things that go fast. Your first word was car. And you created elaborate vehicles and structures with a trunkful of Lego pieces stuffed under your bed, an early sign of your calling. You inherited my love of the sky, your sister my love of the sea. Our first long trip together was a flight from Kissimmee, Florida, to Apalachicola, in a single engine Piper Archer. Remember it?

August 29, 1995
A typical summer day across central Florida. The sky clear as we climbed away from the runway, with only a few scattered clouds. The cumulus would grow dense and tall as the day wore on. The flight northwest across Florida smooth and uneventful, as we chatted in the cockpit and viewed the scenery passing seven thousand feet below. The landing at KAAF (Apalachicola Regional Airport) also smooth and uneventful.

We were there to check on an airplane a friend of mine had recently bought, and shipped to Apalachicola for a complete refurbishing and refit – nuts to avionics and a new paint job. We found the Piper Dakota in pieces, and I remember you poking your head into every nook and cranny to see how everything worked and fit together.

We departed KAAF by late-afternoon following a hearty hamburger and fries lunch, and before I’d climbed to altitude, you were sound asleep across the rear passenger seat. How can I adequately express the sheer joy of that moment? The father-son time we’d spent together that day, in my favorite place to be, above the earth. And the enormous surge of love I felt at your unconditional faith I’d get us home safely, assured enough to fall asleep without a care in the world. I’d carry the memory with me on all our future flights, the trips to DC, Block Island, and ferrying you back and forth to Cornell.

Asleep in the back seat you missed the buildup of tall puffy cumulus drifting across central Florida, a typical Florida sky for the time of day and year. The kind I loved to play in. But I didn’t have the time or fuel to indulge playing around the hills and valleys of that awesome skyscape. Wide diversions to remain VFR and clear of the towering masses extended our flight time and devoured fuel. You awoke in the midst of one such diversion, staring at the clouds and wondering where we were. I decided then to file an IFR flight plan and head direct to our destination. You should have seen the excited thrill on your face as we entered, penetrated, and exited the clouds. One after the other, until approach vectors for Space Coast Regional interrupted our reverie.

 
 

I was cleared for a long straight-in ILS approach to KTIX runway 36, providing an easy let down in and out of the clouds to a feather smooth touch down. Our day trip longer than I’d anticipated, but I wouldn’t have traded the hours you and I spent in the sky that day for all the money in the world.

Happy Birthday

More Logbook Tales – true stories from the author’s flying and sailing logbooks.

---

COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE. Thank you for visiting my blog. I enjoy hearing from my readers. Please leave a comment, sign up for my newsletter to receive news, updates, and blog posts directly to your email inbox, and share this with your friends on social media.