OK. It really happened. I met Dr. David Gordon at his house and we drove to Ellington Field. He introduced me to Jim O'Neal, the owner of the Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatross I would be climbing into for an incredible hour. Joe Tanner (yes, the deacon/astronaut/husband of Martha one) would be my pilot. I was excited about this experience, but truthfully, a little anxious. I did not eat any lunch because I couldn't think of anything I might want to enjoy twice.
After some briefing on the rocket-powered ejection seat ("Don't touch anything that is red"), we strapped in and taxied to the end of the field. A few more preliminary checks and we sailed down the runway and into the sky. In no time we were over Galveston Bay, and then the Gulf of Mexico. Joe said, "It's your airplane," and I took the stick in the back seat.
"What do I do with it?"
"Just move it around and see what it does."
"Where do we go?"
"Anywhere you want. It's an all-terrain vehicle."
For half an hour we flew a mile and a half above the Galveston Beach. I made tentative turns, circling the area. Joe took me through a barrel loop. Then he had me do a roll. Astroworld has nothing like this. I could tell this could be an adrenaline junky's equivalent of crack -- addictive and expensive. I felt like a Jedi pilot.
Our time was up too soon. We flew back to Ellington and landed smoothly. I let Joe go ahead and land the thing. I didn't want him to feel useless.
I have absolutely no "spiritual application" to make to all this, except to say that I am incredibly blessed to have generous and gifted friends who shared something with me that I would not have gotten on my own. Maybe that is a spiritual application.
Back on the ground, but still looking up,
rrc
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