Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Islands Are Out, But What About Canals?

Ed's latest interest is in flying small planes. Today he was talking to my mother and me about all the places one could fly to, for a vacation for instance, whenever they felt like it.

"Well, I'm never going up in a plane like that with you," I said. 

"Why not?" he asked. 

"Because you don't know anything about flying planes, that's why," I said.

"But you don't mind driving in a truck with me," he said.

"Yeah, because you've been doing it for 17 years. And you're a good driver." I said.

"So you wouldn't fly with someone who didn't have 17 years of experience?" he said.

"Well, I wouldn't be inclined to fly in one of those little planes with anyone, no matter how much experience they had," I said.

"Exactly," said my mother. "Remember JFK, Jr.? His plane went down in the water, with his wife and sister-in-law inside. That poor mother, what she must have gone through."

"See?" I said. "Not a good idea."

"Well, where would you go anyway?" my mother said.

"Anywhere you want," said Ed.

He turned to me and said, "So you wouldn't go somewhere on vacation with me?"

"Of course, I would. But I'd fly commercial and meet you there." I said.

Then my mother said, "Well, how about Fiji? How long is the flight to Fiji?"

"Long," I said. "And why do you want to go to Fiji anyway? It's an island and you don't even like the water. And you can't swim."

"Well, I like water, but I'm afraid of it," she said.

"Oh, then an island isn't a great place for you to go, Ma. You do realize you'll be surrounded by water, right?" I said.

"Yeah, but..." she said. "Well, it doesn't matter," I said. "I'm not flying anywhere with Ed in some little rubberband prop plane."

"And I'm not spending 23 hours on a plane to go to a place where the average temperature is 80 degrees. And humid. With a person who doesn't like water and can't swim." I said. "Maybe we need to start somewhere closer; like the YMCA, where they offer swim lessons."



 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011:
Survival Training And Retirement Planning
2010: Just A Glimpse
2009: Eddie Mails A Package In His Dorfman Friday
2008: Shower Jam
2007: Golden Arches
2006: The Land Of Fruits, Nuts, And Flakes
2005: Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

4 comments:

ELH said...

When I was in my early twenties, many moons ago, I took some lessons, and oh, what a experience..absolutely wonderful and exciting.. then along came kids,houses etc..and that had to be put on the far back shelf..if you have the opportuniity to even try a sample ride,you should do it..and Salena,you can go along as a observer..no back seat driving. Up there..
Being that you guys are in Arizona, have you ever thought of gliders?? Id imagine the "thermals" waves would be awesome, especially out over the desert..look into that also..I've done that several times, and its like you're. Just floating. In the air..
Best of luck, enjoy the view...

Marlaina said...

MacGyver took me flying on our first date. He was so young, 28, it was kind of scary, you know not having a graying-at-the-temples pilot, but thrilling. On final approach to our landing, he pushed in the mixture button not the flaps -- or something -- the engine stopped for a nano second, enough for my heart to skip a beat. His hands flew across the dashboard, the engine came to life and we landed safely. I was in love.

Ed's been driving safely for 17 years, he has more than TWO million SAFE miles. I'd fly with him, once he got his license, of course.

Ed said...

ELH, I was gunning to be a pilot in the Marines, but at the time my only option was eye surgery to get 20/20 and they wouldn't accept that. Also the competition was intense, but I would have aced it all. The bad peepers kept me grounded. Thanks Marlaina. Next we will hear about that time Greg captained a submarine. That guy has done everything. Amazing!

I did find a cool airplane called Cirrus that comes equipped with a rocket propelled parachute which deploys in case of emergency and safely floats the plane to the ground. I had never heard of that technology.

I have already taken one flying lesson, but this was on 08/2001 and I have been OFF of flying since 9/11 because of all the craziness surrounding aviation and rightfully so. Sanity seems to be coming back to the aviation world, but it is still a scary place to be interested in just because of the recent history.

Damn terrorists!

Anonymous said...

I went from Tucson to Las Vegas on Learjet in the late 1999's. Because it was flight test; was VERY Scary. LOTS of up and downs. But very interesting. I have an ironclad stomach. So no problem.