waving hello to folks in the CN Tower observatory

The sky is my happy place. As soon as I lift off, I leave my work on the ground… I’ve been working a lot lately and all I want to do is go up in a plane!

These aren’t all the aerials, but what I’ve had time to upload thus far:

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My helicopter flight yesterday, in between photo shoots. (Unsurprisingly, as soon as I arrived home, I crashed.) This is my fourth flight in a helicopter. It was shot with a phone camera, so I recommend muting it unless you enjoy the sound of rotor blades.

Flying is always my preferred manner in which to observe David’s passing due to cancer on December 18, 2005. On the weekend we met, he surprised me with my first helicopter flight.

I took my second helicopter flight on the Durham Regional Police’s Air1 helicopter in October 2007.

My third helicopter flight was David’s birthday on May 30, 2010.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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Mississauga from the plane on Monday evening

For the glass-half-empty people, the longest day of the year is over and every day from here will get shorter. For the glass-half-full people the summer has just begun. Which one are you?

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As I was compiling a list of my annual pilgrimages south to fly for David’s birthday on May 30, it struck me how fortunate I’ve been over the years at getting myself up in the air six years in a row. Since scattering David’s ashes on May 30, 2006 (a major feat* in itself after all that happened on that trip), there’s been all sorts of weather challenges — from stormy skies to major haze to high winds. But every year I still manage to do it, and I’ll keep doing it until I face some real inclement weather. So far I’ve been lucky it hasn’t been bad enough to call off a trip yet.

David’s B-Day 2006 – scattered his ashes
David’s B-Day 2007 – flew with an instructor at Brampton Flying Club in low visibility conditions
David’s B-Day 2008 – first flight with Alan in his Super Cub
David’s B-Day 2009 – flew with Alan in his Super Cub, landing in windy conditions [original post]
David’s B-Day 2010 – flew in a helicopter at Mount Pocono Airport
David’s B-Day 2011 – flew with Tyler and Tiffany in a Piper Arrow

The video above was from my flight with Alan two years ago, when the winds picked up so fiercely we braced ourselves for a bumpy landing. Here’s what I wrote in Flickr in the description:

Sunday, May 31, 2009

It wasn’t windy when we left Cherry Ridge Airport, but after returning from a stop at Mount Pocono Municipal Airport the winds picked up tremendously and we were landing in a crosswind. (Look at the windsock with 11 seconds to go.)

Our first attempt at landing turned into a touch-and-go and this was the second attempt. If this was a couple of years ago, Alan wouldn’t have attempted it, but he’s come a long way as a pilot and I had every confidence in him that we’d land safely. David would’ve been so pleased! (They flew a lot together in Civil Air Patrol.)

When we taxied by the airport, there was a line of pilots cheering — it was pretty funny. Rick said the people in the airport gave Alan a standing ovation.

I have yet to upload the rest of the flying photos from a week ago with Tyler as PIC (pilot in command), but it’ll have to wait until I get back. For now I’ll leave you with a video I shot three years ago on David’s birthday of his Snoopy the Aviator music box from his baby days. Aww, Beano’s in this one, too (and Xena’s in the back).

* the car broke down less than half an hour outside of Toronto, then I had to tow it, get a rental car, continue to Allentown to pick up the ashes, back to Scranton, and got a call at 7am from the museum when they found a pilot to fly from Connecticut, round up everyone and drive the 2.5 hours to Rhinebeck, NY in stifling humidity.

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Airborne for David’s birthday! Mission was a success, all credit due to Tiffany and her brother Tyler for making it happen. More photos after I get back to Toronto…

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Got home around 2am after driving from Buffalo Airport, where it is approximately 30 degrees Celsius colder than what I left behind in the Bay Area of California. Shot more aerials than usual from the window seat, because the landscape over Nevada was pretty striking… these photos were taken mostly around Las Vegas.

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The sunset landing in Toronto this evening was amazing… I know, aren’t all sunsets amazing? But I still take pictures of them. These photos are all straight of the Canon A520 point-and-shoot.

I’m back, Toronto! Back to all your G20 mayhem and madness, and gritting my teeth to work through it all. I arrived home to find my G20 passes to enter The Security Fence, but I need to bring photo ID with me, too! I’ll be so glad when this is all over and we can get back to regular summer activity. In better news, I got to board a retired British Airways Concorde (Alpha Echo) yesterday afternoon in Barbados before I left. WOW, that’s all I can say. I had one chance only to fly in a Concorde (for free), but I’ll tell the story when I get the photos downloaded off the card and after some sleep.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eagle_Has_Landed

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On May 30 every year I fly for David’s birthday, and this year I decided to go up in a helicopter. Mount Pocono Municipal Airport was where David trained for his pilot’s license in 1994, and where he surprised me with my very first helicopter flight that fateful weekend in October 2004.

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Some highway scenes:

I’ve entered Yankee fan country:

Playing Scrabble with my mother-in-law again (this is the first game we played together since David died):

Flying with Alan in Pennsylvania:

I have said it before, I believe the best camera you own is the one you have with you. It doesn’t matter if you have a fancy camera at home if it’s not being used. I’ll take photos with anything, including a cameraphone. If I’m driving I’ll just shoot with the cameraphone. I don’t even have a smartphone like a Blackberry or an iPhone, I use an old Samsung U510 with a small resolution that came with my 2-year phone plan. (Aside: contrary to popular belief around here, you don’t have to sign your life away for three years to go wireless — I’ve only ever made 1-year commitments in BC if any, and only 2-year ones in Ontario but I could just sign up for a year at a time. Obviously, I’ve never used Rogers for wireless. My reasoning for not signing 3-year plans is that either the phone itself or the technology doesn’t last that long.)

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I arrived home from PA/NY after 4am, so I’ll forgo the photo uploading until later and in the meantime upload a short (30 sec) video clip of my exhilarating biplane flight. I shot a bunch of short video clips but this one’s my favourite.

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome
Dutchess County, NY

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