Words Spoken Long Ago

Winter has loosened its grip on the countryside. The bitter cold has gone away for now, and we see the day’s long shadows form later as the weeks go by. We are on our way to better days. Plans for the annual Dinner at Fox Hollow are coming along, and we look forward to seeing a full house once again. The raffle is arriving shortly. For those who haven’t purchased, make sure you buy your tickets at the next meeting. The prizes are an Icom handheld radio, a headset, and the ever-popular Makita drill and accessories kit. This is one of our best fundraisers, and the odds are pretty good as well. Good luck to you all.

Troy and I put on a talk about our New Brunswick trip to the RAA chapter at the SAIT hangar. What a great building and fantastic display area! If you have a chance, please find someone to help you get signed in for a tour. That trip seems to take on a life of its own. The stories get a little longer each time we speak of it. I intend to make it again with or without C-FTJE.

I have found another great read. It is called ‘Slipping the Surly Bonds’ by Dave English. It has a good variety of quotes that deal with all aspects of aviation. Some of the more fascinating ones come from the pre-flight era, long before the simplest gliders took to the skies. It includes quotes from Plato, da Vinci, Bleriot, the Wrights, Lindbergh, Earhart, Yeager, Gann, and many others.

One of my favorites is by Ernst K. Gann: “You can always tell when a man has lost his soul to flying. The poor bastard is hopelessly committed to stopping whatever he is doing long enough to look up and make sure the aircraft purring overhead continues on course and does not suddenly fall out of the sky. It is also his bound duty to watch every aircraft within view take off and land.” I can think of this often in my own backyard where that is the truth 365 days a year. I feel that I have one of the smartest dogs out there since he stops what he is doing and looks as well.

Another quote from Charles Lindbergh: “It was that quality that led me to aviation in the first place – it was a love of the air and sky and flying, the lure of adventure, the appreciation of beauty. It lay beyond the descriptive words of man – where immortality is touched through danger, where life meets death on equal plane; where man is more than man, and existence both supreme and valueless at the same instant.”

I am sure that we can all appreciate the opportunity we have. What a privilege it is for the sense of freedom we enjoy. To decide where we will go and make that endeavor happen at a moment’s notice.

Wishing you tailwinds and no bumps,

Garrett Komm