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‘Flying’ Category

  1. Itching To Fly

    September 17, 2009 by Gail

    Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome

    While talking to my mother-in-law earlier this evening, I’ve only just realised how late it is in the airshow season and I haven’t flown in the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome biplane yet. ORA’s airshows finish around the middle of October and usually by this time I’ve made several trips over the Hudson River. Maybe it’s because I’ve been to three airshows, flew once with Alan, had a biplane ride in Ottawa in July, and my summer’s flown by at breakneck speed, but it just occurred to me that I only have one opportunity left to make an ORA biplane ride this year. With two weddings booked and various commitments between now and then, my fingers and toes are crossed that the weather — and aircraft — cooperate for my next road trip to Rhinebeck and I can put on my goggles and helmet and fly!

    The photo above was taken during the last weekend of the 2007 season. The museum folk know that I like to film from the backseat and are very accommodating about it, so that’s where I usually sit. On this particular trip I was sitting behind a couple who were riding in a biplane for the first time and were pretty thrilled with the experience. I especially remember the wife’s reaction, and I wanted to capture it.

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  2. Sunrise From The Window Seat

    August 24, 2009 by Gail

    sunrise over New York

    I’m back from my weekend adventures in Boston/Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and it’s a ridiculous time of the morning to be on a computer. (But when has that stopped me from posting before?)

    I downloaded and backed up all the photos — all 778 of them; there’s a special reason why there are so many from a single weekend — and before I hit the sack I’ll share a few from the Buffalo-NYC flight, which was ungodly early but incredibly beautiful.

    GEF_2760_edit

    (more…)

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  3. Biplane Ride Over Ottawa: Videoclips

    July 20, 2009 by Gail

    This is my favourite of the bunch. You can see Parliament Hill below for most of the clip:

    The other nine videos shot from takeoff to landing can be viewed here. The biplane was a 1939 Waco UPF-7. For more information about the biplane rides, I refer you to the Canada Aviation Museum website.

    Update: I put together some of the clips to make one video and added music.

    Biplane Ride Over Ottawa from Gail Edwin-Fielding on Vimeo.

    July 19, 2009
    Canada Aviation Museum
    Rockcliffe Airport, Ottawa

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  4. My Plan For This Weekend

    July 15, 2009 by Gail

    Breaking away from Gail at Large tradition, where I don’t post about the future, I am posting a YouTube video of what I’m planning to do this weekend. I called today to make a reservation, however, I need a second passenger to make the flight (well, without paying for two seats) but I think I might have one!

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  5. David’s Birthday Weekend In PA: The Recap

    June 9, 2009 by Gail

    over Lake Wallenpaupack

    The weekend of May 29-31 was, in a word, BRILLIANT. All missions were accomplished, and then some. (Makes me want to pun the title: The ReCAP.)

    Thursday: arrived at Helma’s, was fed heartily (as always!)
    Friday: met with Executor, picked up David’s flight bag, went to Mona’s house
    Saturday: went to temple for David’s yizkor, lunch with Helma, then Mona’s house for birthday dinner
    Sunday: went flying with Alan, Helma’s house, then Mona’s before driving home

    I originally wanted to fly on Friday, but the weather was pretty foul so I opted for an impromptu meeting with the Executor. To have David’s flight bag back and finally wear our headsets again was a great feeling! It seems a bit silly to get attached to something as nondescript as a headset, but if you’ve been reading this website for more than a few years you’ll have seen the scores of flying photos and videoclips I shot with us squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder in our little Tri-Pacer cockpit, David wearing his light green David Clarks and me wearing my Red Barons. These are very fond memories for me, and just seeing that bag again triggered the anticipation of flying adventures and made my heart leap a little.

    But my main purpose of this particular birthday trip, 42 years after David entered this world, was to visit his mother. We spent most of three days together, talking about David as a baby, a little boy, his childhood, bar mitzvah, all the way through school, college, married life, learning to fly, Civil Air Patrol, working life, our lives together, and his last days. Mona filled blanks for me, and I filled in blanks for her. It was dizzying how much we covered in one weekend, but I’m convinced this was the best thing that could’ve happened on May 30, 2009.

    Mona

    I went to Temple Israel on Saturday and attended the entire service, from beginning to end. There were three items on the agenda: David’s birthday, yizkor, and shavuot. When I arrived I sat at the back, and the rabbi — in mid-service — came all the way down from the front and greeted me. I have to say, this really made an impression! The rabbi and I last met in 2005, at Mercy Hospital and the hospice, and he remembered me.

    I took away many ideas from that service, but perhaps the one that stood out the most was that of celebrating the life of the person(s) we’ve lost.  (more…)

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  6. If I Were The Pope I Would’ve Kissed The Ground

    June 8, 2009 by Gail

    Sunday, May 31

    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!

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  7. Air Time Canada: Free Aviation Program For Youth

    February 16, 2009 by Gail

    the boy who could fly

    [A photo I took of Vinny, the boy who wanted to fly, and did.*]

    This is amazing, I can’t believe such a thing exists, but according to the website Air Time Canada has been around for 14 years. They’re in the Vancouver area and fly out of Boundary Bay Airport.

    From the website:

    Air Time Canada is a non-profit organization that administers free and nearly-free aviation-based leadership and self confidence programs for teens and adults. The program is run and paid for by volunteers and by voluntary donations from past participants.

    A FREE introduction to flying? No shilling for companies? They say not. Here’s info on their Co-Pilot Program. After a quick skim, one limitation is that Transport Canada restricts the participant weight to 170lbs (just over 77kgs), which means it really is oriented to young people. But their one-day Ground School is completely free — they even pay for lunch!

    If you have kids interested in aviation (or might be) and you live in the Lower Mainland of BC, definitely check it out! And if you do participate in one of their programs, I’d love to hear what you have to say about it. I hope this nonprofit group is around for a long time yet, maybe my nieces or nephew would be good candidates in a few years.

    A couple “Flying Fielding” photos:

    (more…)

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  8. Feel The Gs

    November 7, 2008 by Gail

    You know what? I don’t really mind winter coming on, because I need all this indoor time to go through the crazy gigabytes of photos and video I shot over the summer. Spring and summer were a complete BLUR, and if I leave everything sitting on my drives I won’t remember anything I did.

    Here, for example, is a short clip of the flight I took in the Beech D18S Expeditor at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum the third week of August. I flew in a variety of aircraft this year, but of all the rides this one was my favourite. We banked so steeply and quickly that I had to fight the G-force to keep my camera hand up to shoot this video!

    I flew in the DC-3 Dakota in July for the second time and it was still loads of fun, but this was my first time in the Beech and it was even BETTER! I don’t know if it’s customary for the Beech pilots to do that many dips and turns for member rides, but we were airborne for a generously long period of time compared to other flights I’ve taken at the museum. The pilots were thoroughly enjoying themselves, too, despite the incredible heat and humidity that day.

    cockpit of the Beech D18S Expeditor

    Beech D18S Expeditor

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  9. Flying Makes The Spirit Soar

    October 14, 2008 by Gail

    It wasn’t my original plan, but I left Toronto in the middle of the night on Friday and arrived later than expected in New York City Saturday morning, pushing everything forward including brunch. Then it took me an eternity to get out of New York City, I got caught in gridlock on the I-87 going north, and seriously didn’t think I would make it to Rhinebeck before they closed up everything.

    I very nearly turned around to go back to New York City, because Rhinebeck is a four-hour round trip journey — all for naught if I couldn’t fly. I sat in traffic still more than an hour away, trying to decide whether to return or push on.

    But I decided to keep going, crossed the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge and with great relief saw the biplane in the sky… I knew I still had a chance to make it.

    The good people at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome got me a seat (in the back, just where I like to sit), I put my gear on, and entered a whole new world above the treetops — a glorious world of wings, wires, whistling wind.

    Nothing makes my spirit soar like flying.

    (more…)

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  10. 1939 DC-3 Dakota: We Meet Again

    July 26, 2008 by Gail

    Woo-hoo! I was booked months ago for two rides today, as part of my membership at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Hamilton Airport. I put myself down for the DC-3 Dakota at 11am and the 1942 Beech D18S Expeditor at 1pm, but the crazy summer storms we’ve been having wreaked havoc in today’s schedule, too.

    It wasn’t just the weather: after we were all buckled in, the pilots noticed a mechanical issue and we were evacuated for a bit until they sorted it out (hydraulic lock) and we got on our way. I uploaded a short clip of the flight to Flickr for now — there’s more to come.

    This is my second flight in the museum’s DC-3 Dakota, my first flight was November 4, 2006:

    All the flights got delayed due to this mechanical issue and the stormy skies, eventually leading to an intense downpour that hangared every single one of the museum’s planes out for rides and cancelled flights for the rest of the afternoon. It was sunny by the time I was on the QEW, but one flight was enough for me today. It’s still incredibly hazy and humid — not really ideal flying conditions — so I’m happy to wait for a better day for a flight in the Beech 18.

    Now that I’ve got my flying mission accomplished, on to mission #2 for today: a haircut!!

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