High Up and In the Zone

I like these days, spending time not really working on anything, but I'm in a happy zone. I'm listening to some nice soul, old school hip hop, and rap. I call it feel good, head bobbin' music. Blackstreet, John Legend, Fugees, The Roots, mmm and the like. What makes me happy is also being in the presence of some good company. I'm at the library with a bunch of friends, studying together but individually. I'm supposed to be working on this paper to try and win an award, but I'm procrastinating as usual. Going through some old photos my sister posted on social networking sites, listening to good music, and being with my friends sure does make me feel blessed to be here.

Sweetest Thing (Mahogany Mix) - Lauryn Hill

Today I also got to fly! I was allowed to take the day off work and go on a trip with my friend to fly up North. A few posts ago I talked about hoping for clear skies, and it was clear enough that my friend and I were able to go. What an experience. The first thing I did when I woke up was look out at my window at the sky. What a lovely day! It was mostly sunny, with a few clouds, but they were high up in the air. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the wind wasn't going to be bad today. We got there and checked the weather, as well as the plans for the flight. Everything seemed to be just right. The weather was perfect for flying - the clouds were high enough not to be a bother, and the winds seemed to be pretty calm.

As we approached the plane, I realized how small it actually was. I had no idea of what to expect, and although I knew it was going to be small, I was still surprised when I saw it for myself.

It's tiny! But what a fighter. This guy was pretty old but still fought against the winds we met up North. I had no idea how to get in... but you can see that there is a step right under the blue stripe, so I used that to climb in. 

This was the view a few minutes after take off. I can't remember for certain, but this looks like Belwood Lake. During this trip, my friend got me to look at the map and back at Earth a lot. It was very difficult to get adjusted to all that was going on at first, all the information and signals my brain was trying to process, but it was fun! Now I know somewhat of how it feels to be a pilot. 

This is the instrument panel. Your competence to reading and understanding how to use it determines if you're ever going to get to your destination, or worse - if you're ever going to make it back home. My friend tried to teach me how to read everything and let me control the plane for a bit. The plane was so small, you could feel every little movement you made to the controller. That's probably why I didn't fly the plane for too long. Tehee.

4500 feet into the air, everything seems so small, and so cute! Checkout the view of the dock! They look like toothpicks, cutely aligned together. This is the area above Owen Sound, and that body of water is Georgian Bay. Please excuse the reflection in the picture!

On my phone, I decided to take a screenshot of where we were headed. We were en route to Tobermory Municipal Airport, which is at the tip of the piece of land we were in. The left photo shows that we were flying between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. The right photo is a close up of where we were.

There wasn't much up there, just a lot of farm land. From so far up, the land looks like it's been divided so perfectly; there were perfect patches of land cut out and the roads looked so sturdy and smooth. I commented this aloud, and my friend told me that, "things only look perfect from far away, but when you fly closer, you can see that it's actually crooked here and there, not so perfect". Sounds deep eh?

Trying to land and then taking off after was pretty rough. Turbulence! It was exciting and added thrill to the adventure (yes, I love adventure). Although it was probably actually quite dangerous to be flying with such strong and unpredictable winds, I wasn't worried and had faith in my friend's piloting skills. I was actually expecting more movement but then again, we weren't in a movie. We hit some nasty winds that threw the plane a bit off course. Our plane was trying to land straight ahead, but we had winds coming at us from the left, pushing us away from the landing strip. Thankfully we made it, my friend and I sharing a moment of relief. What a difficult landing! Check out these clouds! It was much harder heading back because there was more wind up North, and the clouds hung lower. In this photo you can see the layers of clouds looming upon us. We had to fly at a lower altitude of 3500 ft to avoid flying into them, as we didn't want the water vapour to get onto the wings or engine and freeze up. That would have been bad!

After two hours of flying, we were almost back! Can you spot the airport?

There it is! The landing strip. 

And we landed! Perfect landing, I must say. It was much much smoother than trying to land up North; there was no wind fighting us and a much wider landing strip. 

Success! We made it back alive! Kudos to my pilot and much thanks to God for watching over us and giving us good weather to fly. Best day off work ever. 

Proverbs 20

verse 5, "The purposes of one's heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out."

verse 6, "Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find?"

verse 15, "Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel."

verse 22, Do not say, "I will pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the Lord, and He will avenge you."

verse 24, "A person's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way?"

verse 27, "The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord that sheds light on one's inmost being."