Tracks of the StoneBear 4 Corners ROF Grand Canyon
April ' 08
After seeing the Grand Canyon.... exhausted from the spectacle.... headed south on Hwy 64 / 180 to Williams, AZ. Came to ... I think Valle airport on the right. Being a pilot... I have to see / inspect EVERY airport. There were a few planes / relics on display. The "Connie" ... a 3 tailed constelation. I remember seeing a connie ath the Birmingham airport as a kid. A magnificent plane !
The Navy jet ... ??? i have to look up. A Martin 404 ... Wow ! A Pacific Airways Martin 404. I remeber flying on a Martin 404 out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and landing in the metropolis of Tuepelo, MS enroute to St. Louis Lindberg field. 1976... those were the days... !
**** from a previous post on the ITW blog
ITW Journey... PLANES,... Greybull, Wyoming, Sat June 26 Thermopolis Wyoming, .... and many airports on this Journey through the West & Rockies
The affection of airplanes goes back a long way. Planes are aerodynamic wonders and jewels that have defined a lifetime of interest. Grampa Wood taught me to fly his 182 when I was 12. .... That was 50 years ago. Grampa taught me for 5 more years 'til he died in '68.... ... right when I needed him the most. I was learning a lot fast then. ... and I missed him dearly. Several years later got the FAA pilots license not just for the love of flying,.. partly to honor Grampa Wood.
There is not an airport or small airfield passed that I don't look for the wind sock... direction of the prevailing winds, runways, unicom / tower, hangars, or tie downs. Planes in the pattern doing touch-n-gos. ...or a plane doing a runup on the apron. .... or on short final. Maybe just to see a Base Leg & if there are 20* flaps down turning Final. Maybe and engine start-up. Maybe taking off. I just want to see all of it. every plane. every airport
I've flown over 35 years as a licensed VFR pilot . ... but my flying days as left seat P I C are pretty well past. ...Left back in the era of the fly by the seat of your pants style. Flying is for young lions now. The skill and technical requirements demand it. Having walked around the sun some 60+ times now, I know better than to get into the pilots seat of an airplane unless your at a 100% + skill level. Glad I got to fly when I did.
Grampa Wood was a Barnstormer. During the '20s and into the great depression of the '30s he flew US Mail on the 1st routes of aviation. He often did NOT follow the rules. .... And he taught me to fly.... same seat of the pants style... I followed the FAA regs much better than he did. ... and still occasionaly get a little right seat time w/ buddies.
The ITW journey went by many small town airfields / airports & seeing the general aviation was a treat. I still love flying and planes as much as the day Grampa put my hand on the throttle and let me push it to the firewall to takeoff... run up those Rpms and thunder down the runway. It's a good day when you get to enjoy some Airplanes. Thank you Grampa Wood for the gift of enthusiasm for flight through a Lifetime
From my list of Life Rules concerning flying...
Rule #57. Live Life.
From Landing my plane on desolate, isolated, secluded, pristine beachs in Florida/Bahamas, coming in w/ full flaps --down 30+ degrees, descending at 150 ft/min w/ inclining angle of attack, windows open to sense the real speed/handling of the air like Grampa Wood showed me, ocean crosswind blowing inland at 12+ knots, L/R slipping as needed, you can feel the thickness of sea/gulfstream salt air ; smell the stinch of dead beach crustations& rotted seaweed,..... stall warnings sqwaking/creaking from low airspeed, power about 18-1,850rpms for manueverability in case I had to power up amd go around,.... or fly down the beach another 500 yards...
.... and in those 1 minute final approachs,..... looking for the right sand/beach to land safely on, .... I lived more in those precious moments than most people lived in while working 30 years in a Cubicle for a corporation.
Live life. -- This is the kind of flying that is not taught in military or private flight schools. Grampa Wood was a barnstormer during the depression amd I got some of his genes. If you could get a motor and propeller on a washing machine;..... I'm pretty sure I could fly it & land it. ****
PS: Grampa Wood was a Private in the 167th infantry in WW I ... a mud soldier in the trenches and survived the battles at Croix Rouge Farm in the Chateau-Thierry , at Somme, the Aisne-Marne, and the Meuse-Argonne ... and watched some of the aero- dogfights while sloshing around in the mud trenches. I would have like to taken Grampa Wood to this Blue Angels airshow. I know he would have been proud of the pilots.... their skill at flying these wonderful F - 18 hornet jets,.... and for our country ... that developed and evolved these Navy / Marine Corps / and Air Force air wings.
Planes 4
Tracks of the StoneBear 4 Corners ROF Grand Canyon
April ' 08
After seeing the Grand Canyon.... exhausted from the spectacle.... headed south on Hwy 64 / 180 to Williams, AZ. Came to ... I think Valle airport on the right. Being a pilot... I have to see / inspect EVERY airport. There were a few planes / relics on display. The "Connie" ... a 3 tailed constelation. I remember seeing a connie ath the Birmingham airport as a kid. A magnificent plane !
The Navy jet ... ??? i have to look up. A Martin 404 ... Wow ! A Pacific Airways Martin 404. I remeber flying on a Martin 404 out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and landing in the metropolis of Tuepelo, MS enroute to St. Louis Lindberg field. 1976... those were the days... !
**** from a previous post on the ITW blog
ITW Journey... PLANES,... Greybull, Wyoming, Sat June 26 Thermopolis Wyoming, .... and many airports on this Journey through the West & Rockies
The affection of airplanes goes back a long way. Planes are aerodynamic wonders and jewels that have defined a lifetime of interest. Grampa Wood taught me to fly his 182 when I was 12. .... That was 50 years ago. Grampa taught me for 5 more years 'til he died in '68.... ... right when I needed him the most. I was learning a lot fast then. ... and I missed him dearly. Several years later got the FAA pilots license not just for the love of flying,.. partly to honor Grampa Wood.
There is not an airport or small airfield passed that I don't look for the wind sock... direction of the prevailing winds, runways, unicom / tower, hangars, or tie downs. Planes in the pattern doing touch-n-gos. ...or a plane doing a runup on the apron. .... or on short final. Maybe just to see a Base Leg & if there are 20* flaps down turning Final. Maybe and engine start-up. Maybe taking off. I just want to see all of it. every plane. every airport
I've flown over 35 years as a licensed VFR pilot . ... but my flying days as left seat P I C are pretty well past. ...Left back in the era of the fly by the seat of your pants style. Flying is for young lions now. The skill and technical requirements demand it. Having walked around the sun some 60+ times now, I know better than to get into the pilots seat of an airplane unless your at a 100% + skill level. Glad I got to fly when I did.
Grampa Wood was a Barnstormer. During the '20s and into the great depression of the '30s he flew US Mail on the 1st routes of aviation. He often did NOT follow the rules. .... And he taught me to fly.... same seat of the pants style... I followed the FAA regs much better than he did. ... and still occasionaly get a little right seat time w/ buddies.
The ITW journey went by many small town airfields / airports & seeing the general aviation was a treat. I still love flying and planes as much as the day Grampa put my hand on the throttle and let me push it to the firewall to takeoff... run up those Rpms and thunder down the runway. It's a good day when you get to enjoy some Airplanes. Thank you Grampa Wood for the gift of enthusiasm for flight through a Lifetime
From my list of Life Rules concerning flying...
Rule #57. Live Life.
From Landing my plane on desolate, isolated, secluded, pristine beachs in Florida/Bahamas, coming in w/ full flaps --down 30+ degrees, descending at 150 ft/min w/ inclining angle of attack, windows open to sense the real speed/handling of the air like Grampa Wood showed me, ocean crosswind blowing inland at 12+ knots, L/R slipping as needed, you can feel the thickness of sea/gulfstream salt air ; smell the stinch of dead beach crustations& rotted seaweed,..... stall warnings sqwaking/creaking from low airspeed, power about 18-1,850rpms for manueverability in case I had to power up amd go around,.... or fly down the beach another 500 yards...
.... and in those 1 minute final approachs,..... looking for the right sand/beach to land safely on, .... I lived more in those precious moments than most people lived in while working 30 years in a Cubicle for a corporation.
Live life. -- This is the kind of flying that is not taught in military or private flight schools. Grampa Wood was a barnstormer during the depression amd I got some of his genes. If you could get a motor and propeller on a washing machine;..... I'm pretty sure I could fly it & land it. ****
PS: Grampa Wood was a Private in the 167th infantry in WW I ... a mud soldier in the trenches and survived the battles at Croix Rouge Farm in the Chateau-Thierry , at Somme, the Aisne-Marne, and the Meuse-Argonne ... and watched some of the aero- dogfights while sloshing around in the mud trenches. I would have like to taken Grampa Wood to this Blue Angels airshow. I know he would have been proud of the pilots.... their skill at flying these wonderful F - 18 hornet jets,.... and for our country ... that developed and evolved these Navy / Marine Corps / and Air Force air wings.
