I let myself sleep a little later than usual (after working until midnight last night), and woke to a blue sky on my birthday! Louise urged me to go do a little dawn patrol before work, and since the airplane is in the back yard, that sounded like a good idea! But what to do?.well, it IS my birthday, so how about something to mark th occasion? I tightened up the harness and pulled up into my first roll - and didn?t stop until I had counted to fifty! (Well, I did pause a few times?)
Barrel rolls, aileron rolls, slow rolls?rolls at the top of a steep parabola?.the air was smooth, hazy below the convection layer, but crisp above as the seeds of the morning cumulous layer began to appear. The Valkyrie seemed happy for the work-out, and I count it as her birthday present to me - just the two of us, waking up before breakfast on what looks to be a nice day!
I aimed back at the airpark as I rolled upright for the 50th time, slid through the wisps at 1,000?, back into the world that most normal people know - the world of traffic, and stop lights, and bad jokes by morning DJ?s. Far better to start the day in the freedom of the sky, dancing on laughter-silvered wings, then finishing it off with a two-tire chirp, and making the turn-off at the house. Ah yes, grass-hopper, there are rewards for turning fifty?in fact, you're never "old" if you are flying an RV - perhaps we may have discovered the Fountain of youth?
I guess next year it will have to be fifty-one loops!
Paul
Barrel rolls, aileron rolls, slow rolls?rolls at the top of a steep parabola?.the air was smooth, hazy below the convection layer, but crisp above as the seeds of the morning cumulous layer began to appear. The Valkyrie seemed happy for the work-out, and I count it as her birthday present to me - just the two of us, waking up before breakfast on what looks to be a nice day!
I aimed back at the airpark as I rolled upright for the 50th time, slid through the wisps at 1,000?, back into the world that most normal people know - the world of traffic, and stop lights, and bad jokes by morning DJ?s. Far better to start the day in the freedom of the sky, dancing on laughter-silvered wings, then finishing it off with a two-tire chirp, and making the turn-off at the house. Ah yes, grass-hopper, there are rewards for turning fifty?in fact, you're never "old" if you are flying an RV - perhaps we may have discovered the Fountain of youth?
I guess next year it will have to be fifty-one loops!
Paul
