The weather was beautiful and clear so Murphy's Law said "Let's Go Flying!"
We drove out to Martinsburg and prepped his aircraft for flight:
Unlike most flights, on this one the pilot and passenger were flying armed.
We saw some C-5 Galaxies including one take off before we were set to go:
Then we took to the air. He flew and I snapped pictures.
ML pointed out various towns and sights, including a fly-over of Harper's Ferry:
We passed over the CSX rail yard and saw the old turntable:
We overflew the Antietam National Battlefield:
I snapped some decent pictures of Burnside's bridge:
The bridge, where troops under General Burnside were trying to force a crossing for several hours, was the site of much fierce fighting with the Confederates dominating the crossing point. Had the Union troops but known that there were other shallow routes possible to cross Antietam Creek that were not under such withering fire.
We then flew over the Sideling Hill cut and you could really see from the air the geological mountain layers revealed by the cut.
Murphy's Law delighted in showing me how well his Skyhawk handles steep banks as well as stalls. At all times, I managed to avoid screaming like a little girl. (Hey Keads - He flies like he drives!)
He also let me fly the plane - "Here, you fly it". Again, I managed to avoid screaming like a little girl.
In fact, I really enjoyed flying the plane. Uh oh, yet another possible hobby in my future...
We had a great time and headed back to the airport, landing safely. We then got to watch another C-5 depart the field:
4 comments:
Be GLAD it's not acro certified... LOL
You mean it's not acrobatic certified? Ruh-Roh! :-)
Ah, yes, the Sideling Hill Cut! How can I ever forget it?
I was driving westward on Route 40 in an Army motor pool vehicle with Dept. of Defense tags on it, en route to Cumberland on official business (having been a civilian employee of the DoD in those days). The wind was blowing very strongly, so I knew that, notwithstanding the warning signs, the Maryland State Police were not doing their helicopter patrols that day, and so, I did take some liberties with the posted speed limits.
As I was climbing the hill to the Cut, a particularly strong wind gust brought the car airborne for a few seconds, scaring the daylights out of me (though the landing was in the direction of travel, and caused no damage to the car).
My heart was still beating incessantly as I passed the crest and started downhill. Before I could recover from the fright, I saw a sign "Runaway Truck Ramp, 1/2 Mile Ahead."
Needless to say, I didn't drive quite as fast on the return trip later that week. And I did get to see the geological formations.
I was afraid of that!
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