STUART, FL - I'll admit it.
I wasn't all that excited about my "fly" along scheduled for Thursday morning to preview the
Visiting Nurse Association's annual air show.It was early...okay it was 11:30 in the morning. But that's early when you work until midnight.
And I was going to fly on a T-6 Texan, the same plane that took me up last year.
But the pilot, Don Stamp, and his counterpart, Pat Letts, are fantastic, funny guys, so I knew I'd have fun.
Getting into a T-6 is not easy. I'm tall, 5'9, and I needed every inch to stretch up and get one leg on the wing.
Then you balance on a tiny step as you swing your leg up and over to get in the plane.
Once you're in, it's time to strap on the parachute.
It's just a precaution, Letts tells me, although he keeps saying, "When you jump out..."
He follows that with, "You'll be too low to the ground anyway. You'll just have to ride her down."
So I'm finally strapped in, headset on. I snap one picture and...my camera battery dies.
We're about to taxi onto the runway. What should I do? I've been on this ride before. Do I really need more pictures?
But if I don't take along the camera, my bosses are going to be really mad...
I decide to err on the side of not making my bosses mad. Luckily, the charger is in my purse so I'm all powered and ready to go 20 minutes later.
We take off, heading north along the Indian River. It's the same route we took last year. Up to the Ft. Pierce Inlet, around Hutchinson Island and back down the coast to Jupiter Island.
After taking close to one hundred pictures and enjoying the cool breeze on my face, we were back on the ground.
And here are my observations from my second flight on the T-6.
1. The phrase, "I can see my house from here," never gets old.
2. There are some pools in desperate need of chlorine.
3. The beaches of Martin and St. Lucie County are arguably some of the most beautiful on the east coast of Florida. (I'm from Panama City so I know beautiful beaches.)
And I realized this as our wheels touched the tarmac. I should have been excited for this flight because no matter how many times you go up on a T-6 Texan, it never gets old.
It's a lot like the air show itself. Even if you've been before, it only gets better every year.
So get excited for the air show this weekend. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Just make sure you charge your camera battery before you go.
