ABOUT FALLENSKY

FALLENSKY

BROWNCOAT ID#:8688   SINCE: 2005.01.04 19:09   LAST HERE: 2005.05.29 03:26   CREDITS: 1

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FOR THOSE WHO FLY THE FRIENDLY SKYS.... AND A FEW OF THE NOT SO FRIENDLY ONES

Wednesday, February 23, 2005 10:47:12 AM

There really is nothing quite like the feeling one gets when flying, be it as PIC, (Pilot In Command) or just a crewmember. Hell even just a passenger... though I think the feeling is more complete if you're part of the process. As I've mentioned elsewhere, during the summer months, when I can, I ship out with a C-47 (DC-3) that occasionally flys the Airshow circuit from the Fargo Air Museum. I do this for a few reasons. A: Airshow's are friendly places. Food is usually ok (if expensive) I get a free bed for the night....
and B: (The most important) I get to go flying. Something I don't get to do enough of.

My dad's a pilot, and while one day, when I finally plunk myself down and DO the work, I will be too, right now I'm just a crewmember. Some would say passenger, but thats not correct. Passengers fill seats. I'm the guy making sure the coffee urns are full, we have all our passengers onboard, all the luggage is stowed (you'd be amazed how much baggage you can get into the baggage compartment of a C-47, and thats before you start loading stuff in the aisle). Before startup, I'm the guy who makes sure the props get turned (to get a little oil moved around in the engine before start, and also (and more importantly) to check to make sure we don't have a hydrolic lock up.) I pull the gear pins just before start up, and watch the start up, (To keep an eye on bystanders... radial engines have this sound that just attracts them... but more then once I've had to grab a kid who could have run smack into a spinnin prop. And walk a wing, if we're taxiing through tight sports.

After that I climb onboard, latch the door, and get ready for a ride. If I'm lucky, I'll probably even get some seat time pointing the beast through the air. It ain't fast, and its not overly fancy (No AC, but we have vents and heat, and at 10,000 feet or so, you don't need AC) but it gets us where we're going.

And every now and then we get visitors while we're up there. Sometimes its other folk heading to the airshow we're going to, and just feel like meeting up for a bit of formation work enroute. (We don't do much work, we just keep flying... they gotta do the work moreso then us, we're slow, they're relatively fast.)

We've had F-16s and -15s come down for a peek, though they can't stay long, we cruise barely above stall speed for them more often then not.

Such is the life enroute. But its comfortable. Not many other places can you stretch out a sleeping bag down one side of the plane and take a nap.

Once your at destination, I'm the first guy out the door, to do the whole process in reverse. I also run most of the tours. Its work, but its not hard work, and while I'm not paid, I always figure I'm compensated by the flight time. Its a good arrangement, and its fun.

Now, I could tell you what I feel, when I'm pointing that bird around the sky, or standing way at the back so I can feel the tail come off the ground first... but its a little different for everyone who enjoys flying, but its definately a joy.

And for those of us out there who know that joy... well, there's just nothing quite the same. Its not better then somethings, or worse then others, its just different. Its freedom, I think, in one of its most base ways. And as Mal would say "Its a good day" because he got paid, and more importantly, they're still flying.

Fly well fellow skydwellers, and long fly our favorite Firefly.

~FS

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