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The view: Anticipating flight
The pilot: Douglas Evans
The airplane: 1946 Globe Swift GC-1B
The mission: Social distancing, airplane style
The memory: After a week in self-imposed quarantine, I decided to socially distance myself in the clear blue western sky over Texas. A creature of habit as all pilots are, I interrupted my preflight ritual of fully opening the hangar so as to avoid making contact with a fellow pilot who happened upon my same idea. Looking out through the partially opened hangar door as I’ve never before thought to look, I was rewarded with stunning contrasts—light, shadow, glinting aluminum, and bright blue above. The moment lasted a few fleeting seconds but the memory is forever burned into my pilot soul. Release your inner Charles Lindbergh, the lone eagle of his time, and be not deterred by the social distancing of our day. Takeoff into the delirious burning blue and live life aloft.
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Everyone should take the opportunity to do this…..take that airplane out you haven’t flown for weeks or months, discover that solace that comes with flying on a crisp clear morning is the finest form of social distancing.
I love your airplane, i.e. that beautiful Swift, I tried to buy one N528H in 1966 but didn’t get it and have been kicking my self ever since.
Not flying here. It’s not an essential activity necessary to sustain life such as buying groceries. And although I see many of my fellow pilots justifying such activity, they will be all too ready to ask first responders or mechanics to come to their aid and risk their health if the unthinkable happens which it does daily for some of us. Stay safe, stay at home. Grow up and be patient.
Eric,
I don’t know or care where you live, but here in central Tennessee our first responders are not being tax as you indicate. In the extremely unlikely event I were to need emergency aid, they would be available to help with no inconvenience to anyone else.
I have spent my life, now well into my 70’s making, for the most part, good decisions. I am now truly sick and tired of being told how to live my life by the government, the mainstream media, and now people like you who have no idea what others in other situations are experiencing.
Please keep you opinions to yourself, and don’t even try to imply I am not an “adult” just because I don’t do as you do.
Dave
Can I second your comment, Dave? I, too, am in my 70’s, have been aviating and wrenching for 50 years and am tired — TIRED — of Monday morning quarterbacks. Besides, if you were suffering from the ravages of COVID-19, I doubt if you’d be aviating.
The former Administrator used to get up in his “Meet the Boss” forum at Airventure and spew sentiments like “We have to learn how to get to ‘Yes,’ … then go back to throwing rocks in our path. By the time you get our age … you’re darned tired of all of that.
Doug … your Swift can’t talk but let me talk for it … THANK YOU for taking such good care of me !! :-) Gorgeous machine. You are a lucky owner.
Good for you Dave! About time someone told people like Eric to mind their own damn business!
Soon those like him will be informing on their neighbors. They’d be good subjects (not citizens) in the former USSR or East Germany.
Eric, Dave, and Jerry,
“Grow up and be patient.”
“… don’t even try to imply I am not an “adult” just because I don’t do as you do.
Grow up=Adult=Maturity?
“Maturity is not measured in years. It comes from the life experiences you survive, that teach you the truths of life.”
Eric, you really sound like a fun guy. Please stay home, wear your mask, and allow others to enjoy life while you worry about the future. You might want to sneak out and put a mask on your plane as well. Can’t be too careful!
Beautiful airplane. I did a search on here for ‘globe swift’, and came up with not much. No ‘whats wrong with Globe Swift pilots’, etc. It would be great if somebody would write up a story or two about what it is like to own and fly one of these machines for the rest of us who have Globe Swift envy. :)
I would rather fly a P 51 mustang best plane ever built on my bucket list