Flight in Awe

Been a while since I went for a bimble. Looking out the window at lunchtime I figured I could do with a shot of the "grins" before the long weekend at work. I grabbed a victim from the office (it's always a shame to go flying with an empty seat I feel) and off we went to Shoreham.

Tall_Guy was there pre-flighting for a similar flight and even offered to wash our windscreen for a quid - looking into the sun down the taxiway I began to wish I had taken him up on his kind offer. One short field take off later we were heading east over the Downs to the north of Brighton and then headed to the coast to do a bit of house spotting for my passenger. That over, we headed toward Eastbourne, climbing all the while, until I spotted a gap in the cloud to aim for, with a suitable bit of blue sky further west so I could get down again.

I have found myself intentionally above cloud before, but very scattered and only about 50' high. Today they were about 200' high, with the odd one peaking higher still. Being careful to keep the land in sight I decided to play in the cloud tops. My passenger was spellbound............. so was I.

We played up there for about ten minutes, weaving in between the higher clouds, marvelling at how we could almost reach out and touch that cotton wool right outside our windows, wing tips almost touching the edges of the soft fluffy cloud. The impression of speed really is heightened when so close to the surface of the cloud. Diving through another gap and heading back west again, a large hole appeared with Beachy Head showing clearly in the distance.

Down we went, back below the cloudbase, with me grinning as much as my passenger about the last ten minutes of fun. From almost a mile high, we gradually descended to 700' about half a mile off the coast and had a birds eye view of the coastal strip towns. People scurrying about like ants, oblivious to the two grinning aviators staring down at them. Cars moving slowly along, nothing to see but the rear of the car in front, not realising what they were missing out on.

The cliffs were almost glowing in the soft afternoon light, the sea lapping against their base as we climbed back up to listen to the ATIS and jolt us back to reality.

There is very little that silences this particular passenger, very often we have considered issuing him with a gag, but this afternoon he just gazed in wonderment at the scenery unfolding beneath him, passing only the odd comment to confirm what he was seeing.

Back to the busy circuit, shattering the peace and tranquility, extending the downwind forever it seemed to try and avoid cutting in front of number 3, eventually holding the speed right back and weaving on final in order to avoid a go around, before kissing the tarmac once more and ending another fantastic flight. I am so lucky to be able to fly. We all are. Let us hope we never forget that.