Some of what I've been up to...

My husband and I attended the Gathering of Mustangs & Legends (World War II warbirds) at Rickenbacker airfield the last weekend of September, flying our Cherokee 180 over several states. The picture accompanying this item is just one of the lovely views from above.


There were 81 P-51 mustangs at the show along with B-17 bombers, a Lancaster, numerous P-38s and the airforce's current crop of F-15s, F-16s and an F-22.

The exciting part for me was beginning to learn to read (ie interpret) the Detroit sectional aeronautical chart. You have no idea how much information can be crammed into how little space until you've seen a sectional. I learned how to look for obstructions such as towers, hang gliders and parachute jumping areas. I was able to spot power transmission lines, roads and railroads and became a bit more proficient at finding the various airports' unicom and AWOS/ASOS radio frequencies for my pilot/husband.

Here is what the view from my side of the plane looks like when coming in for a landing - yes, that is the runway below. And a very espensive GPS to keep the plane on track is on its left.

As far as exercising body/mind and spirt, believe me, we walked for miles at Rickenbacker airfield!!! I was more than glad to finally sit down and watch the acrobatic pilots. It was a wonderful weekend to be outdoors in the 80 degree sunshine - nature can be very spiritual. And I more than exercised my mind with airport radio frequencies, elevations and reading sectionals.