It's A Guys World Here

I came on the scene twenty some years ago.....because my hubby wanted to share his passion of flying with me.  That is how I came to find the place I belong, aviatrix, bud, devilish trouble maker, instigator of fun and the entertainment keeper of our barn aka hangar at Bermudian Valley Airpark.

He encouraged me to learn to fly, knowing I would eat it up before I even knew...How did he know I would? Because he said you like challenges and it's fun, hun...hey that rhymes...

It's a guy's world at our airport...I changed the stereotype of our home base, the first woman and only woman that wanted to be by my hubby's side and he still loves having me by his side...at least I'm sticking with that ha! I say that as we are unique in our almost 30 year marriage of being best friends and we share and have the same passion, flying ..I am one of the "guys".  That is what I like the best...no one cuts me any slack and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The first few years and first 300 hundred hours of flying or so - I was mostly skeered to death....I would stare at the wind sock and if it was just blowing the least bit I would say "maybe tomorrow", you see the wind was a challenge to me...I would see my buds flying and it would bother me as I wanted to be flying with them.  So, little by little I would move the line of comfort a bit and while I would grip the yoke of our Aeronca Chief in a death grip I would force myself to fly. If you could imagine this, surrounded with guys (my friends mind you) and they would egg me on....and well I had to be their equal, I wanted this as the raw beauty of our world from above was mine to snag....peer pressure at its finest not meant to be mean, just how it rolls at our home base.

We decided in 2003 it was time to think about buying a plane with electric start for me.....and behold my partner in crime ~ named "Girly Plane" by my buds a 7GCAA 150 hp Citabria.  She was brought home to join our family and once again I had another goal to learn how to fly my new plane........and the ante was raised as my buds would raze me about it's ability and yet I was still timid and a newby pilot with a cool plane.

I stumbled with Girly Plane, it was faster than my 65 hp Chief and the first few years were a challenge but, I wanted this! Then one day it just clicked. I was a pilot, I felt as if we were one, she held me carefully and let me test my self imposed limits, I busted through and rose above in the air to meet the joy which was unseen, yet I tasted it. I belonged here, my free fall into freedom...I could fly.

I would love to go to the airport and practice, practice, practice....my hubby would always say to me, you probably have the most landings of anyone I know.  I wanted to be good, I needed to prove to myself I had the ability to be a good pilot....when the bar is raised you need to rise and meet it.

Our barn is where I find arms that wrap around me and instill in my deepest part a peace that sometimes is hard to describe, although I feel it deep and my breath is shallow while my eyes take in the view that I never tire of seeing.

It's a guys world at our airport ...AND I'm okay with that....I like hanging with guys, we raze each other and in fact my hubster is one of the worst....but, I dig it...I have my own strong willed confidence and it can't be shattered. It's a struggle for some of the guys...I am even steven and when they throw out a challenge, well I'm IN.....I love to smack them down...yes I admit I have an ego and well, it works here....no tiny tears baby girl, just forge ahead to who you are...be true to yourself and ride the wave. Those that tag along snag your enthusiasm and those that fear it run...stay true..be you.

Why do i like to fly?....it is the freedom thing of getting in the air and being free to do what i want with my plane...I do as I please and it's a confidence builder, although those that know me well, say I have too much confidence, it's not something I really understand, what is too much confidence??? It's simple, I am ME.

The view, my gawd the view out of the window is spectacular at all times and no matter what the weather, it never ceases to amaze me what I am seeing...how lucky I am.  It is exciting on each flight and to be able to share this excitement with a chosen few is a favorite part of my life...my hubby and my close buds... I don't have many I let into my inner circle who understand my flying "language" the GAGA I bestow upon those that will listen, it's a special place I harbor my deepest feelings as being held by the air is understood by only others of like sickness.

I am most comfortable with flying...I feel comfortable with the people, airplanes and well our "barn"  is home to me...I relax the most when I am at the barn, but more so when I am in the sky where I forget the everyday issues and wander the sky where I feel most at ease in the raw beauty gifted for me to see.

While this flying world might be dominated by men....its a mans place here and I belong here, fit in here and I am home here...and the best compliment is when I hear them say...she is one of the "boys" and it doesn't hurt when I hear in the confines of this mans world, by my close buds, a good stick....respect.

It is for me I float above, it is for me that I want to share this amazing flying art, it is for me that I strive to explore, it is because of him that I found home and he happens to be setting beside me....how lucky I am.


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

Special Day - A Keeper

If you just opened this, please read it and "LIKE" as I was late to the Ladies Love Taildraggers contest and need votes...as you roll your eyes..c'mon!!!  I'm desperate...;-)

My story is about the people that are part of my life journey relating to flying.  I have so many memories that lay embedded inside me and like a photo album only I can see the visions that I have created and only I can picture these slots of memories the way, I remember them...I want to share this special day with you.

This year, it came upon me fast, my vacation over Thanksgiving 2013.  For for some reason this time I wanted to have company.  Most of my vacations are me and girly plane flying solo, yet I found myself in a funk this time....being at the airport just wasn't the same lately.  I knew it would be best if I could spend sometime with my buds as our time together always encompasses laughing, busting on each other, and appreciating the wondrous act of flying. They get my extreme passion, call it an addiction and they understand my excitement for flying, it's who I am;  My longing to be at our hangar no matter what the weather throws down, this place always seems to wrap her arms around me and I instantly feel at home.

This trip was all Gene's idea. Gene happens to be my oldest friend, 88 years old, a force of nature who is tough, has great life experiences, great stories and whom I love spending time with. He mentioned he wanted to visit Anne Fichere who lives at Kentmore Island Airport a small grass strip located near Bay Bridge airport and in his great fashion to sway me, he said Anne mentioned me and said she was hoping I might visit again...Gene is smooth tugging on my weakness.."flying" and it took me all of 30 seconds to say "I'd love to take you". Our pact made we agreed on an early departure from our home base at 07N Bermudian Valley Airpark.

Gene is not as nimble as you and I might be and after a bit of me pushing on his ummm... rump, yes I said rump, contouring his legs around the stick we were set on this cold yet severe clear morning to take to the sky. Headset - check, stick clearance - Gene " hey - you're hitting my belly, easy" - kinda check LOL...well suck it in Gene. Yes, I actually said that, and he laughed his great laugh. Lastly, Gene asked for my map, he likes to follow along, so I handed it over and plugged in my tablet with the flight plan and Gene yelled out the time and we took off over a truly amazing morning where just a  slight mist was still laying low over the ground.

Flying with Gene is a good time for me to be reflective, focus on the course, check the amazing beautiful sky, as we are comfortable in our silence, that's how our friendship seems to flow. Gene, yells out - we've been up 42 minutes, "what's our ground speed"? 81mph Gene, winds are out of the East, as soon as we get around Aberdeen we will gain airspeed, and we sure did, up to 115 mph.. and we were on track to be on time for our lunch date.

We decided to try to find a few grass steps along the way, Gene has diabetes and his legs bother him quite a bit, this helped him/us to pass the time..Gene would shout out a few markers to look for and we actually found quite a few... must be my lucky passenger.

We landed and taxied right up to Anne's house... sweet Anne...I was introduced to Anne two years ago when her husband Joe a spry 92 years old had just completed Anne Morrow Lindbergh's 1929 Bird and Gene was helping to certify the Bird at the time, he had asked me to fly him down so he could help Joe with the paperwork.....sure I said, twist my arm.....make me fly you.

I can remember vividly how they were so excited to show us the Bird the first time.  Joe insisted I sit in Anne Lindbergh's seat..oh I don't know?...his eyes lite up and the joy of seeing him share his love affair of restoring her over the last 10 years, was captivating and I was truly spellbound.... I mean how unbelievably cool to have a love affair and be able to share his story with us and eventually he would fly her. I was most happy that he was able to complete what he had dreamt about for years before he was called to the heavens in early February.....I can still see him smiling with a twinkle in his eye and telling me again to climb up and sit in her seat...as I slid down into her seat, I could not get over that this Bird was one of the most beautiful artistic planes I have ever seen...a real genuine piece of history.

Anne Lindbergh and her most telling remark was to believe "if you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly in those moments". 

It was whispered that perhaps the Bird was heading to a museum this past summer and Gene mentioned he thought Anne would love a visit, so I called Anne and asked if I could bring a few buds to see her...a resounding YES, please come visit!! In my fashion of always organizing our "boys" flying trips,  I rounded up the troops and it is one of my favorite memories that I treasure, for various personal reasons.

Anne told me that she was planning on being in the Bird when it arrived in Blakesburg.  The plan was for her to hop in the front seat in Ohio and fly the last leg to Blakesburg with the pilot..,. I said you have tooooooo!!!!  she laughed, I suppose I do, don't I?

The Bird took off from Kentmore for the journey to Blakesburg this year and upon reaching Ohio, it ground looped upon landing, thankfully no one was hurt, but the Bird was damaged... and now she is sitting in a hangar...a project that once again needs to be repaired.

So why are we here today, you might ask? To visit sweet ( just turned 84) Anne and hear the real story about her Bird... We drove to the marina for lunch, Gene and I had our hunger focused on oysters and Anne shared the story on the Bird.  Here I was with two people in their 80's listening quietly to stories of days gone by and memories of their own spilling forward and I am reminded that they were young once with dreams, goals of their own....making me realize that I had this very moment to live and I shouldn't waste a minute.  This journey for each of us is a one way trip on the train of life and we should live it fully...we each have our own dreams and no one should have to give up anything to forsake their own journey.

When we sit down for lunch, I let our guest order first... she says "I'd really like to have a glass of wine", but it's only 11:30am.. my response - go for it! I love the way Anne thinks !!

As we head back to Anne's house I notice a table with all kinds of goodies.... Anne - I think I need to come back for some of these homemade treats....she insists on bagging up them up and I promised to stay in touch and visit again.

Now it's time to venture back home our bellies full and I tell Gene of my plan to fly up over the Bay Bridge, over Martin State directly home bound, and truth is he wasn't too keen on that idea.... That is allot of water he said...AND you know all the engine noises we hear over water...gheez Gene!?!....he had to say that didn't he...... I remembered the first time I went home this way by someone else's suggestion... I was nervous, although I would never admit that to him... now it was easy peazy...I told Gene it will be fine. We could almost see China flying home and it didn't hurt we had a tail wind all the way home....ahhh home base, doesn't that sound cool rolling off your tongue, when you see out in the distance the tree marks which surround the grass field that house's my serenity, my barn, my joy where my heart belongs.

This past weekend Gene delivered a thank you note from Anne, along with an invite to return to Kentmore to see her.. it is something I will definitely plan on this Summer...c'mon Summer I have plans..

I am in awe of many things....Yet the deepest part of my soul is most satisfied sitting above our world in quiet splendor flying.

Pictures:  1. Delaware Canal  2.  Bay Bridge  3. Inner Harbor, Md  4.  North of Inner Harbor, Md   5. My favorite picture - me and Joe and his Byrd