We were at the Thomasville fly-in and the weather had been okay, not great, but just okay. There was a high overcast and it was cool for October. And it was windy.
As we were getting ready for the return flight to the Daytona area, I wondered about what kind of ride we were going to get on the way home. I did not look forward to bouncing around all the way home. I just wanted to get home, put the bird away, and get a good night’s sleep. I spent the entire night listening to my friend’s snoring coming from their tent on the other side to their airplane. And I was all the way over on the far side of my airplane.
It seemed as though his snore would leave his tent, hit the bottom of his airplane’s right wing, travel toward the fuselage, and make its way around the cabin and windscreen. Then it ran along the left wing of their airplane, jumped across from their left wing to my right wing, came around my cabin and out my left wing, and then down into my tent and right into my ear.
So, I was sort of not looking forward to the flight home. I just knew it was going to be bouncy, uncomfortable, and no fun. I don’t like flights like that. Sometimes, they can give you a headache.
Before long, we were airborne and headed southeast. We climbed out in a loose formation and as we reached 3500 feet, we were surprised. We had a smooth ride all the way home. On top of that, we had a 40-knot tailwind.
It was amazing to be traveling home in smooth air with a ground speed of 140 knots—in an old, almost 50 year-old airplane. As I sat watching the world slide swiftly by, I found myself trying to figure out how I could always have this smooth, 40-knot tailwind.
This was so great! Usually, whenever I would take the 170 somewhere, I would have a 10 to 20-knot headwind. Then, when it was time to go home and I was looking forward to those same winds to give me the boost on the way home, there would be the proverbial 180-degree wind shift.
Argghhh!
After the trip home from Thomasville, I would at least be able to say I had a great tailwind at least once during all the time I went somewhere in the “B.”
-30-
© 2011 J. Clark
I have struggled fairly hard in my life. I don’t think the Lord understands that I could use one of those “tailwinds” from time to time.