Category Archives: Aviation

Flying Below The Radar

For a couple of years, I would get a call from time to time to fly right seat over to the Bahamas with a good friend who was working in South Florida as a charter pilot.

We would take folks over for the day and while they did whatever they were there to do, we would harass the local bonefish on the “airport flat”.

Getting there and back was also a lot of fun.

Get out there and seek adventure, even if its just for a day, or a few hours!

Watching History Pass Over & Reprise

A stiff north breeze was blowing a couple of days ago, so I opted to pond hop for bass in the neighborhood rather than launch the skiff and contend with wind.

It was a decent bite, but thats not unusual for our little utopia of interconnected retention ponds.

While taking a break, perched on the (pond hopping assault vehicle) golf cart & talking to a friend on the phone, I heard the joyful sounds of multiple radial engines approaching.

There she was, a B-24 Liberator, bearing down on me from the north at around 1600 feet.

I mentioned it to my friend as he too appreciates such things & held the phone skyward as it passed overhead in an attempt to share the sweet sounds of WWII heavy iron passing by on wing.

The aircraft is part of the Collings Foundation collection.  It is the only flying example of its exact type, the J model.

Check Here to view a schedule of where you can see it up close over the next couple of months.

As luck would have it, they had James Stafford aboard filming the flight from New Smyrna Beach to Stuart, FL.

Seeing the fly-by from their perspective was a cool reprise.

I wonder if they noticed me standing there, mouth agape, phone held high?