Landings

I haven't updated this as much as I should. I will try to be better about it in the future.

I flew last night from Denver to Columbus and got to thinking about one of my photos.

I took this while Lisa and I were in Monterrey, CA for her ACVP convention. It has become one of my favorite nature shots. i think because you can see the concentration in the pelican's eyes as it flares to lans on a tiny rock.

I thought about this photo because it shows the thing of beauty that a landing is. I think that we as earthbound beings, relying on machines to fly, can only have a glimpse at what it is like for birds as they master the skies.

We all know a bad airline landing when we feel one, however, when you consider the incredible amount of variables and nuances that comprise a landing it is incredible they aren't flubbed more often. I will spare a long description of how to land an airplane, but consider this: Last night I flew over a thousand Nautical Miles and then had to place a multi-ton aircraft going 140mph onto a strip of pavement 150 feet wide and just over a mile long. (If you want to get technical in order to land as a part 121 air carrier I had to touch down in the first 3,000 feet of the runway.)

For me the mark of a good night landing is when I open the cockpit door and can still see people rubbing their eyes because they didn't wake until we reached the gate.

But I am no where near as good a pilot as that Pelican is.