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Larry Snyder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is a day to be thankful for the wonderful things we have been > given in life. Only a small group of people are privileged to be > pilots, and even a smaller group of those are Ercoupe owners who > truly appreciate what flying is all about! Amen, and Amen. I live in Davis, California, near Sacramento. San Francisco is an hour-and-a-half drive away when traffic is good, which isn't so often. Last Saturday I convinced my wife to join me in flying to Half Moon Bay, a small airport on the Coast below San Francisco. It is a great flight and destination: follow Interstate 80 South-West, flying over the Sacramento River where it joins San Pablo Bay, over the cities of Richmond and Berkeley, then feet-wet over the San Francisco Bay. From here you can see Oakland, the Bay, San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, Angel Island, Sausalito, Tiburon, and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Continue flying West, you can fly over the Golden Gate Bridge or cut over the City somewhat. Then turn left over the Coast, heading South, and lose a little altitude to avoid the Class Bravo airspace. Hop over a small projection of land and there's Half Moon Bay, right traffic for runway three-zero. Land, taxi back past the approach end of runway 30 as far as you can go and park...it's a 5 minute walk to several restaurants, a wharf, all the scenery one could ask for. And 50 minutes away by Aircoupe. Without disrespecting pilots of other airplanes in other countries, or regions.... The USA is one of the best places to fly small planes, because of the still relatively cheap fuel and relatively accommodating regulatory environment. Northern California is a great place to fly: lots of airports, great scenery ranging from high mountains, to broad agricultural valleys, to rugged coast. And fine weather 8 months or more of the year. The Aircoupe (I have an Alon) is an inexpensive aircraft, great visibility, speedy enough to get to places. What a great combination! I know I don't "deserve" it, so am simply thankful for this time when it all comes together. I'll enjoy this now, knowing it will not last forever but not letting that certainty diminish this moment. We all truly are privileged to be flying our little airplanes, wherever we are. Ralph Finch ============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
