Thank God I Trust My Pilot…

..says the atheist XD

Some of you have been following my, what have seem to become, weekly flying or shall I say traveling adventures. My first vloggerhead blog post was very happy, very feel good… the pilot flying nearly vertical to so I could see the sunset, again. Another post described my agony aboard the ferry as it bounced, rocked, and thrashed in the choppy waters.

Tonight, on a calm night, the stars twinkled, the moon shone, but the fog – oh the fog – blanketed the land and sea like a soft, white, pillowy cushion of cotton. So thick was the fog that from the air you could no longer make out the normal beacons that are usually all quite visible from the sky. All you could make of our destination was the soft yellow glow of the city on the clouds and fog above them. This is all very peaceful and quiet, well, while you’re still in the air.

As we started making our approach, obviously via Instrumental Flight Rule (IFR), I watched the pilot watching his instruments. I can read an altimeter, a compass and a few of the other little gadgets. All things that flash are color coded and have meaning and I know what I’m looking at and can tell the difference between markers in the skyline for both flight & water travel such as buoys, lighthouses, airport beacons, military airport beacons, hospital emergency landing pads, towers that are over 200 feet, etc… But tonight was very difficult and the pilot worked intently. As a side note, ACK (Nantucket Airport), was built originally as a military airport. Basically, the Airforce said, “Where can we build an airport and train our pilots that has the worst, most unpredictable weather on the East Coast?” Welcome to my everyday commute.

We started our decent and I could see a bright flashing through the fog. I figured this was the beginning of the runway. However, when we were descending into the clouds you could no longer see the flashing, everything is black when you’re in fog, all lights above and below are invisible, period. When the runway finally comes back into view there is absolutely no room for error. That runway is dead in front of you, and if it isn’t, you better have fastened your seat belt, tightly…

To my two favorite pilots, Jim & Kiper, I thank my lucky stars everytime I get on a plane in bad weather and see one of you behind that pilot seat