The Flatirons haven't changed a bit (I look at the Devils Thumb every day when I go to work).
I was under my truck on a creeper when the Pacific Prowler made its first takeoff. I heard those big radials coming and grabbed the truck to pull myself out for a look--just as I rolled out into the street they roared over me headed up. Lordy what a way to start the day! My housemate was cleaning up the little pond at the end of the runway when they passed over as well. She said she also almost ran over a pilot who was taxiing somewhere at the airport (the pond folks have some kind of access across the airport, which is weird)
Col. Bower (I believe I got his name right), who was one of the Doolittle Pilots) spoke later, he and another pilot (I am ashamed to say I didn't get his name, but I think it was Lynn mumblemumbleimsoembarassed...described their war service, and answered a LOT more questions than they should have been made to--it was just such a great chance to get a firsthand view of what it was like for WWII fighters. I didn't know that they served the whole war on the front, except for brief rotations for R&R...that's a lot of fighting...It stands to reason that not very many men who started the war were around to finish the war.
Met Blue Dharma, whose camera is jes' HUUUUGE! Obviously a great guy, who is welcome to crash at my place anytime he wants when I finally make it to California. Any man with a camera THAT big must be appeased. and fed many virgins to keep him from exploding lava onto the village.
Bill spent a great deal of the morning wrenching the control stick on a video game growling that he couldn't find the airport and fighting with its autopilot(sorry Bill, I couldn't resist) because you can't just turn your head and LOOK for the danged thing! I have always had the same problem with simulators--they're intersting toys but until you can actually see ALL you would from a cockpit, I think they'll remain in a sense just a toy. I know that's not fully true, but my own humble opinion. How could you ever reproduce the experience of flying when you can't feel the G force, or the engine's vibrations, or the effect of wind and just he overall performance of the aircraft firsthand? It was neat, however, to see the display--three screens linked together so you could get a pretty good view from wingtip to wingtip.
I met a bunch of the crew of the Pacific Prolwer (awesome nose art, btw) and MAY get a chance to actually take a ride in the a.m. (I'm hoping but NOT going to bet on it--I'd rather see them fill up with paying passengers than drag my carc ass along.)
Best part of the day--watching the Prowler take off with a cross wind strong enough to make the pilot cant the plane to the left against the wind, and then plow up like nothing was out of the ordinary (earlier in the day a snow flurry driven by strong winds had crawled across the front range and blasted everyone indoors but the crew (what a bunch of hardasses
)
Oh, and being behind the bird as they ran the engines up just when my dad called for the eighteen bajillionth time in an hour: "
Hello? WHAT? I can't hear you, dad. there's a B25 next to me What? WHAT? Can you hear me? Can you hear me NOW? I can't hear you! I'll call you tonight!" *hangs up with a snigger*
The perfect excuse to get off the phone
Oh yeah--Bill introduce me to a guy who does just amazing computer imagery. His name is Joe Jones and I will be framing his work on my apartment walls when I get settled in! If you want to see some of his work, clickie here:
airmail-greetings.com
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