Flights April 23 to 24, 2012

Flight from Victoria to Vancouver, then to Heathrow on 'triple 7' - smoothest flights ever.

Flight around town November 5, 2012

Lucky me, my friend took me flying again - this time, a short flight around town in a 172.

Just a plane at the airport

An interesting sight while doing the runup

And we're off - heading south from Sidney toward Victoria

Convoluted interchange at McTavish Rd.

James Bay, Victoria

Beacon Hill

Clover Point

Heading west over Hatley Park

Witty's Lagoon

It's getting late

Heading back to Sidney,
Mt. Finlayson looks somewhat like a bald head

Finlayson Arm

Over Pat Bay

On final.

April 6, 2012 - a flight, a lunch, a turning point

On the Easter long weekend a friend did something she wanted to do ever since Glenn passed away; she took me flying. It was a respectful tribute to Glenn and a wonderful thing for me. The surprise was the overpowering sense of serenity which made it a gift that keeps on giving.

How lucky I am to have such an experience and friendship - which would not have happened if it wasn't for Glenn. My friend and I both felt he was along on this flight.

The weather was anything but serene. The morning had looked hopeful with a clear sky except for a row of clouds over the hills, but soon squalls were blowing through. On my drive to the airport, a big black cloud hung low over Elk Lake and rain from it was on the verge of turning to hail. It wasn't looking too great at the Flying Club either.

But off we went, taxiing down to the runway. The tower gave my friend a Shawnigan Lake departure, which was straight ahead to the west - not exactly what she wanted because we'd actually be heading up-island, to the right in the photo above.

We're up, heading east for the moment, with the familiar sight of the Flying Club below.

Weather is often nicer over toward the San Juan Islands (beyond Bazan Bay, away from the mountains) than up-island but it was changing quickly there too.

The tower kindly changed the departure route so now we turn left over Sidney.

I don't remember the gravel pit down there.

Now we're on our way up-island. Destination: Nanaimo, for lunch.

Oh man. I forgot how beautiful it is up here. I really miss flying.

I don't remember the water being so green. It probably wasn't all the time, or maybe I was too busy flying to notice because up here is the practice area.

The mill is still running! Such a thing wouldn't normally thrill me but I thought it had shut down - the smoke from it was always such a handy indicator of wind direction.

Logs. A typical west coast scene.

And another.

Quennel Lake, near the Nanaimo Airport.

Remember when you were a kid and you thought you could fall into the sky?

Terrible picture of the runway at Nanaimo (Cassidy), but the windshield was dirty.

My friend cleared the runway to let a plane take off.

Then she backtracked and parked over to the right. There, we got out, passed through a gate and went for a delightful little walk to the restaurant at the Cottonwood Golf Course. The food was good... and cheap!

Now we're back in the plane taxiing out to the runway.

There's the Crofton Mill again.

The weather was pretty wild over the hills. Some valleys were socked right in.

So, it's always nice to come out to this clearing, heading away from the mountains and toward home.

I could be wrong but I think we were under 3000 feet the whole way.

Crossing Pat Bay.

There is that welcome view of the runway at the Victoria Airport. Some length was added to the runway, but it didn't look like much.

Almost down. (But couldn't we just do a touch & go?)   :-)

Perfectly parked. I can't thank my friend enough for this wonderful flight. Maybe it helps a grieving person to do something that they are passionate about, where he/she feels completely at ease. For me, it's not that it made the grieving go away, but it was a step toward feeling stronger and more like myself again.