Well, Ponch is finally home.
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Flyin' the "Li'l Tonka Plane!"
Now that I'm back "Home," I'll explain about what I alluded to in some of my earlier posts.
Ohhh, Kaaayyy...
My Wife's brother, the family comedian, all-around good guy, and one heckuva pilot, passed away unexpectedly just before Christmas. Needless to say, it hit all of us pretty hard. To help myself get through it, I have been flying in FS9 and FSX, and remembering just how passionate he really was about flying.
How passionate, you ask? My wife has always said that for as long as she can remember, he literally would have dreams about flying and not want to wake up. Not too long after he graduated high school, his dad bought a ranch in British Columbia, and "BrotherBrad," as we called him, would split his time between NorCal and BC. To that end, he saved up and bought a Cessna 152, which he affectionately called his "Li'l Tonka Plane," and with his little brother, built an airstrip at the ranch in BC. He flew back and forth often until his dad passed.
I know it meant a lot to him, because he kept a VFR wall planning chart with three lines drawn on it in ink: one from our Home airport O08 to KHIO, another from KHIO to the ranch airstrip, and a third one from O08 direct to the ranch.
He put that chart up on the wall near his desk in every place he ever lived.
In his later years, he and his friends would fly to the Sierras in his friend's Cessna 206 for what are now known as Legendary fishing trips.
To that end, I am planning a memorial flight. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join.
Here is what I have so far:
The order of the day is... loose and informal. Let's have fun!
Fly from O08 Colusa County to KHIO Hillsboro to CYDC Princeton, BC, the closest airport to the ranch. (Building and uploading the ranch airstrip would be a bit beyond my scope.)
Fly any single engine Cessna from a 152 up to a 207.
Screenies would be nice!
When the weather and my work schedule improve, more will be forthcoming.
'Till then...