Okay, its been week now that I’ve been “smelling” and “feeling” the coming of the Fall season. Temps are still in the 90s in Durham, North Carolina but the angle of the sun, the smell of organic matter, the slight tinge of crispness in the air all tell me my favorite season is imminent.
I have two primary goals this year during what has always been the best time of the year in my opinion. One is to get my sports pilot license and the other to take a take a ride with Carolina Barnstormers.
From mid-September through mid-June, Mike Ratty flies people over Durham in his very cool WACO biplane taking off and landing from a grass air strip here called Lake Ridge.
Originally WACOs (pronounced Wah-co, not Way-co) were manufactured from 1919 and 1947 and used as trainers for WWII but you can still buy new versions today. My favorite from that era is the simpler Stearman (kind of a Ford, Chevy thing.) But neither airplane is in my sights.
I do plan to learn to fly a tail-dragger and hope to learn in today’s update of the famed Piper Cub now manufactured by Cubcrafters. But I’m very partial to the very cool little amphibian in this link. So watch out Sis, this may be how I arrive at the lake next summer:-)
Oh no, I’m not giving up riding the Cross Bones. That’s how I get back and forth to the airfield (although I did recently switch to a seat with a backrest that makes all the difference for longer rides.)
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