Monday, November 19, 2012

An anniversary surprise

Plane: Cub, 85 hp 
Route: 40I, Local 
Weather: Clear, 55 degrees, wind calm

Gina and I spent last night celebrating the eve of our first anniversary about 35 miles south of home at a thoroughly fancy and delicious restaurant. When we woke up this morning, she said she had a surprise for me. Leaving the hotel, we made a quick stop at Micro Center and grabbed lunch before she told me to set the GPS for Stewart. To be completely honest, I wasn't sure if she had something crazy up her sleeve until we arrived.

Turns out it was just some time in our favorite Cub... which was a great treat. It's always fun, not to mention the "fittingness" of it all since that yellow airplane graced our Save the Date cards. We chatted in the office for a little while, then climbed on board NC98286 and took to the cool skies.

Passing over the Dayton Mall and the I-675 / I-75 interchange

Flying just north of Wright Brothers Airport

Since this was a completely unanticipated flight, I had even less of a plan in mind than usual. Not that one needs a plan. Flying a Cub is about as pure as flying gets. It's the perfect place to simply enjoy the view and revel in the glory of flying above this beautiful planet.

So that's what we did. I flew west, towards the school where Gina's currently working a long-term sub position. We circled overhead and then I headed back towards home. We passed over our neighborhood as I ascended above pattern altitude at Wright Brothers. Closing in on Stewart, a steep spiral made for a fun descent back down to 1,800 feet.

That's our neighborhood down below - our street's in the middle

Gina's always a good front-seat passenger!

The pattern was clear so I made one low pass over the runway before circling back around to land. We touched down softly on Runway 08, rolling past the cones, right up in between the hangars. Not a bad way to spend part of our day off together. She certainly knows me well.

Here's to many more wonderful years shared in the cockpit, babe!

Today's Flight: 0.8 hours
Total Time: 249.0 hours

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