Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts

Monday, October 11, 2010

Flying Back to Columbus

We were a little frustrated that the ship didn't allow us ashore in time to try for the 9:30 flight direct to Columbus, even though we seemed to be waiting for nothing from 8 AM to 9. At least we did better than the cruise line would allow by making a 12 noon flight with hours to spare. The recommendation was no flight earlier than 1 PM which would have had us arriving after dark.

The first leg from Boston to JFK in New York had almost nothing worth photographing except for the miserable cattle chutes that JFK uses to herd passengers on its commuter flights. I remember too well when a flight from Ohio to the East Coast merited a full-fledged airliner. The commuter flying experience that is today's reality really does nothing to make me want to repeat the experience soon.

The leg from JFK to Columbus did have some photo opportunites, so that is what is included here:

Friday, April 16, 2010

Sun n Fun

On Friday, we rode Morty to the Lakeland airport for the Sun n Fun air show. We were a little put-off by the admission line wait -- over 45 minutes at 9:30. First there was endless discussion as to which discount program applied to each attendee -- all for the difference between $35 and $30! Then, they were computer-entering your identity and credit card information by hand  and it was oh so painful to watch. Then they wanted to individually apply your wrist band so that you shouldn't depilate yourself. The goodies inside would have to really be special to make me want to endure that process again.



Well, we did see a fair selection of planes, and parts, but not really comparable to what they do in Oshkosh in July. Amazingly, they were parking planes on the flight line between the runway and the spectators significantly degrading what you could see on the ground. We did have a good parking spot for Morty, and we were able to watch most of the flys-by from the comfort of his shade. On the whole, it was more of an affair for the hardcore plane aficionado than for our casual selves.

The Air Force Thunderbirds were especially good, but that is what we expect from them. In the evening we went to a very enjoyable performance by the band Aire Traffic -- all air traffic controllers who were excellent musicians. Unfortunately, this performance was attended by only about 50, a good portion of which were "with the band." They do mostly charity work and the air show organization could have done a much better job of promoting their performance.