The Barn - Deep Rooted

The question that my buds always ask of me..

Why are you always here?  Because I belong here.

Why do you belong here?

Because it is where my heart is.
 
It seems so simple to me this humble little spot that has captured my heart. Our home base, located in Kralltown, PA is located in a small farming community and houses our barn -  (aka hangar). To the average eye, it might appear to be a drab metal building located on a grass airstrip, surrounded by corn fields and look quite plain to a stranger, yet she wraps her hands around me the minute I arrive and when I breath in I am immediately home. 


It may seem a bit strange to some, perhaps not with the aviators I know. I have this longing I wear around my neck to always want to be near Girly Plane and the airport.  The sense of comfort and belonging in this place completes the puzzle that I am.  This "barn" houses our heart with a wide spread longing which is deeply rooted as a place to walk in, hang out, and tell stories.  We are a family of sorts, some are closer than others and I treasure what we have created in our "barn". 

This passion for flying has taken over my being and is something that drives my spirit with purpose.  I feel it in the flow of my veins and upon waking and knowing I am heading to the airport I am instantly on fire with energy, enthusiasm and zest for the ability to be able to be a bird.

This week I was able to fly for breakfast with a good bud and it was the most magical, spectacular day when we embarked south.  Peaceful and serene from the view above which is like no picture your eyes might ever see.   We were only a party of "one", and as my bud says a gaggle or party of a few planes is always so cool to see depicted in the sky, don't you agree? The more buds flying equals great stories and laughter.

When we returned home to our "barn" I set in my chair to enjoy the quiet and look at MY tree.....yes, I have a tree that I watch closely throughout all of the season changes for hours and hours.  It has been a staple view in my mind, this tree, reminds me that time really does seem to click away on the calendar of life.  On this day, I watch leaves slip away to land on the ground and I am reminded that another season is on it's way where the days are shorter, colder and already I am longing for the warmth of longer days and the summer.

Have you ever just sat and enjoyed the quiet in a special place?

I wish you could feel the passion I have for this place, perhaps you might understand a bit of it through my eyes, at least that is my hope when I share my thoughts. I love so much about the aviation community.. No, we don't all know each other; may have never met or live in the same community, but we are a community of like minds. When are paths do cross we are always able to bond easily and converse. 

This spot houses my heart of feelings of flight that cannot be measured by any ruler....if you could sit a spell I would be able to show you the beauty I speak of, the quiet rustle of the dried corn stalks and whoosh of the trees are what I focus on today while watching the hawks soar over the trees and it is the pure beauty of flight which fills my heart as if it might burst.

It is during the quiet of the night slipping away and I know it is time to leave, yet my feet are rooted to the ground just gazing at the sky...my peaceful barn where my heart belongs, it is the deepest part of my heart that only can be felt by me and it really is the purest meaning of truth.

This humble little spot in the country gives me peace and happiness, always has, always will. My hope for you is for you to have a quiet, special place of your own.

I leave you with a favorite quote of mine:

Pilots are a rare kind of human. They leave the ordinary surface of the world, to purify their soul in the sky and they come down to earth, only after receiving the communion of the infinite - Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, President of Ecuador

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A BIRD- THE BEGINNING

Even though I look up daily to the heavens and pine for the sky and her calming embrace...somedays your feet need to stay on the ground.

This past weekend was such that we knew we would not be able to fly and yet we made our trek to our hangar at Bermudian Valley Airpark.  We are based at a small grass strip and the rain gods decided to camp out over central PA for quite a few days which left the field knee deep in water.

If you are taking the time to read this you should know from my prior posts that I hunger, dream and simply have a need to be a bird.  It's not such a bad thing if you too have the same affliction, as a matter of fact you might understand my words best.

I am fortunate to be able to fly my Citabria which I call "Girly Plane" most weekends, and then some. This past weekend I reflected on how this happened, how my affliction started while sitting at our hangar, affectionately named the 'barn' by our granddaughter Sammers..

It was him, his challenge to take a lesson that made me jump into our Aeronca Chief with our instructor over 20 years ago. Him being my hubster - Barry who had just received his pilots license and I asked him one day "what is all of this fuss about flying"? It is his fault that I need to a bird!!  It is only him that knows....when I land I can look at him and say nothing and he will say "I know, it was cool, right?"...and I simply nod my head.

It didn't come easy to me, understanding the nuances of flight, tail wheel flying, the E6-B, and the equations schamtions...yet when I sat in her and we floated off the ground I was mesmerized, and spell bound by the sheer beauty of our world from above and scared to death at the same time.  Really!

The day I soloed was amazing, my instructor Steve told my hubster that he was cutting me loose and I will never forget the view from the plane when my instructor jumped out and Barry was running down the taxiway after me waving.....I had finally made the leap and I was grinning from ear to ear....I was finally a bird by myself....just remembering it is a WOW for me...as I'm sure it was for you.

So, for the next year we would trek to the airport while I took my lessons and hubster would come with me and afterwards we would discuss the lesson and I would ask a bazillion questions.  I practiced and practiced because I wanted to be good at this thing called "flight" as any pilot does.

The day of my "check-ride" was unnerving and stressful, take a moment here to capture your memory of your day...we all have that ingrained to never leave our mind.  I always over study, especially for this exam and I can remember asking the examiner on downwind "did I pass" and do you know what he said.....depends if you do one more good landing?? funny AND yes I passed. The day I became a pilot the real lessons began as I was a newbie, cautious and quite scared if there was the slightest wind and worried to death I might get lost.  Here I was, I had a plane and could simply take off to soar around the hills and I stayed in the box around our base airport for the first 250 hours or so.  Then one day, it happened....it clicked, I relaxed and enjoyed just being a bird.

I went onto get my commercial ticket in Girly Plane about 9 years ago and that was so much fun, the drills, precision in depth awareness and focus of knowing your plane and being one...yes I said being one with a plane.....c'mon you know can relate.

Fast forward to the here and now, after many hours of practicing learning and actually thinking now that, hey I actually am an aviatrix...it really is an amazing feeling that I can't quite articulate the emotions of how flying and soaring above settles me, makes me focus on the act itself and I can simple be.  I am fortunate that my hubster and I enjoy the same love of flight along with a few buds, we have made a "home" at the barn, where we prefer to be rather than our "real" home....weird you might say, but, I/WE are SO okay with it.

The most powerful emotion is when you can break people wide-open when you fly with them and they glow.  You can see their face, the broken words of them trying to describe how amazing it is to them.  Where they forget about what is down there and they have escaped to nirvana...this is what I love sharing the most, a pilots nirvana.

The measure of living your life courageously, deeply, artfully, is embracing the fact that each minute, each second should be lived and we should all find our "nirvana" that hits you at the core of the deepest of your soul. 

Wow - I kinda went off the deep end.....it's real and it felt good, it's how I feel.

I leave you with a quote that conjures up what my heart feels;

I have lifted my plane...for perhaps a thousand flights and I have never felt her wheels glide from the Earth into the air without knowing the uncertainty and the exhilaration of first-born adventure.
-Beryl Markham
















 

How MY failed flying trip turned successful..

They invited me, they badgered me, they told me I MUST come! The Ohio Bush Pilots group are aviation enthusiasts to the core...we connected quickly and the plan was for me and head honcho Judy from LLT (Ladies Love Taildragger's) to go and finally meet "face to face".  The "boys" were thrilled we were coming...at least they told us that...:-)

I'm thrilled to belong to this group of LLT members as we share flying stories, pictures and adventures.. I SO dig that!

If it includes Girly Plane, I'm ALL about that....passion has a funny way of rearing her head and I easily follow.  What is it that drives you; what makes you giddy....tell me tell meeeeee....

Trips and adventures go hand in hand and for me it's my steadfast curiosity that gets me excited to explore the wide open sky...or really anything. Just ask my buds I'm always asking questions...

So this past week I did my flight planning for the trip West to the OBP fly-in...check, packed Friday morning..check...cleaned and spiffed girly plane...check... Installed new muffler shroud's -  me, myself and I.. had my mechanic look over all approved....check...step back a minute...I am super proud of installation...even steven with the boys...hehe....I love  wrenching, helps you understand the mechanics of plane a big plus if you are a pilot, I really encourage you to do a "hands on" annual with your mechanic.

Okay, now where was I....Oh -Adventure day - I rise and shine early, rush to the airport and sit for 4 hours....sigh....we are totally socked in the weather gods have decided to make me learn patience.  So, I check weather about 100 times on my phone and make the call. 

My one bud reminds me that I came out to fly so get going! Big day for us, never been this far West and I'm beyond excited to meet everyone and see some cool planes.

So, I pack her up and ready-set-go I decide to let my bud know I'm on my way...my signature wing-ova his house...after a low pass....Btw- if you tell anyone I won't confess to this...;-)

I climb to about 3500 feet and ahead of me is a very, hazy sky with clouds higher than I am. I wasn't in the least bit skeered only a wee bit cautious as I continue ahead to unchartered territory...for gods sake I sound like I'm in a horror movie, funny, but each trip I make is another notch towards accomplishment ,skill, and learning and growing.

The further West I get the bigger the mountains seem and suddenly the lower the clouds appear to be as they gently tug and skim my wings and the visibility ahead is now getting skunky. So I say "girl" what do you think and ever so slowly she rolls to the left and I coax her around and head East. I'm not disappointed...truth, I'm relieved. As PIC "pilot in command" or BIC as my one bud calls me...trust me you should know what that stands for. It is up to me to make the call and flying can be dangerous itself if you don't heed the cautious undertone you might feel. Listen, no amount of ego is good to have when our hobby is thrilling in itself when we are in the air, right?

It's at this point I realize I'm once again starving, weak and thirsty for a beer...why do I always seem famished and dying to have a beer after I fly?

It is now becoming quite turbulent skimming these rather large beautiful, colorful mountains, I decide to make this an adventure anyway and go land at a few new airports. Hagerstown is up first and as I crest the biggest range of all I look down and I am looking at acres of quansi huts covered in grass and probably one million military vehicles. Well maybe I'm exaggerating, but its a lot.  I grab my map and seriously, I mean seriously I think I can't be near Camp David?!? I look at my GPS to verify and it goes blank and now I am freaking out, I kid you not!

Okay, breathe, think..wait Hagerstown is West of Camp David c'mon girl!...so, I follow my compass East and decide maybe just maybe I need to click my shoes three times and go home.

As I fly over a small grass strip located in Shippensburg, Pa I realize it's been a long time since I landed there, so I do and make a bee-line over the South mountain and head home.

While, flying this last leg, I realized I might have failed at my attempt to get to OBP and meet new friends but I was successful in my resolve and decision to go home as I had that underlying "gut-feeling". I will have another opportunity to meet these fine folks and Ms. Judy had the same issues and made her own decision to not go due to the weather.

My first call when I land ALWAYS goes to hubby/hubster and I told him I decided tonight to sleep in your bed....lol.  His reply "well I have quite a few calls to make"' damn it- I said what for? He had planned a boys party with the infamous Kralltown girls...seriously? So, needless to say, the party was cancelled, I had to drive to get something to eat and ended with a beer in my hand while writing this.  LG - life is good.

May you have clear skies and successful endings.

Pictures depicted below are;
1.  leaving home 2. Mountains to the left..left...3. In awe of our amazing sky 4.clouds ahead 5. House in colors 6.military base where I was skeered...

Salt of Earth

I have heard it said if someone is called Salt of the Earth - they are pure, real.....I don't know if that's true. I do know that very few people appear to be.

One such good "bud" is Gene Breiner whom I have known for over 25 years....he is soon to be 88 years old and he never slows down.  He has had the "flying bug" for his entire life...and I love spending time with him.....it is SO simple his life experiences and wisdom draw me to have "talks" with him often....He laughs when I call him during the week to "check in" - yes I'm a mama nudge and he understands why.

There are few people that have a special place in my heart...and he is definitely one of them.  You see I don't let many into my fold, my deepest place...do you? Amazingly, I am drawn to people that are playful, quick witted and most of all who like to have fun with a intelligent angle to them.

Gene and I often talk about our shared passion for flying, life issues and what concerns we might have and often I will ask his advice when I am troubled. He has the most interesting way of looking at 'life'.

On a personal level I had a very sensitive issue with a good friend that has been most troubling this year and he has given me some great insight unto this issue and while I had to figure it out for myself...it's nice that I could share my thoughts with Gene where no judgment's were proclaimed.

Now back to my Salt of the Earth bud - Gene spends a lot of time with us and he told us of the history of a one bladed prop owned by Jessie Jones Elicker who herself is an amazing aviatrix 89 years young...but, that story will need to wait for another day.  She wanted to see this propeller from her father get airborne again...and Gene could make that happen.

He put this one bladed prop on his 1936 J2 Cub to show people that yes indeed a plane will fly with it mounted on...he loves to share - here is something that most of us have never seen on a plane, a one bladed propeller.

Gene pursues his need to initiate conversations/thoughts/discussions and he loves to showcase anything aviation...and well I love anything and everything that is associated with aviation...sometimes to a fault....although Gene will say no fault in finding a passion and loving it.

So, Gene put on the prop and flew it at a local fly-in located in Lockhaven called Sentimental Journey this year and boy did it get attention, just think it's only half of what you might see as a prop normally has two blades. 

Last week he decided he needed to put this one-bladed prop on his J-2 plane again and he came down to our "barn/hangar" and we chatted a few hours...about this and that..are you getting this?? when you can sit with someone and just listen and share and be?

He looked up on the one side of our barn and noticed the end of one of our big propellers from a Stearman and he wanted to know if he could borrow it.......let me tell you why: he wanted to fly his J-2 with the one bladed prop to a breakfast fly-in to Gettysburg and drop it out of his plane and shock everyone and land with only one blade........and boy did we both laugh...yes, we pilots can sometimes have a weird sense of humor.

So, he flew his J-2 plane to Gettysburg to showcase the one bladed prop and came back to home base to put his bird back in his barn before sunset...and he was so excited to tell us about his day.  That is what I love the most how we can share and it's not boasting its the awe of flight, the beauty of flight, the amazing just of flight.......

On Sunday he showed up and said to moi you need to fly the J-2 with that propeller on...and if you know me...I will fly anything anyone let's me.....I have flown his J-2 before, but not with a one bladed propeller.  He landed close to dusk on Sunday night, I didn't have much time and off I went to wander around the country side flying a 1936 J-2 with a one bladed propeller.....every time he let's me fly his J-2 I have the biggest smile on my face......I mean its from 1936!!!  IT's WAY COOL!!

It really is the time that we spend with one another, the loyalty of friendship, the laughter and ease of a shared passion that bring us together and I'm beyond thankful for those that are a part of my journey to explore the skies and be a bird.

I treasure the time that we can spend with Gene as it is truly pure to me. If you ever happen to stop by and the talk is boisterous or seems far fetched it could be what we call hangar etiquette..so come sit down and join us if you dare.

I included a few pictures of Gene's 1936 J-2 with a one bladed propeller along with a few I took in flight.

What do you think?