Friday, December 17, 2010

107 Years Of The Thrill Of Flying

FROM A SNAIL'S PACE TO 2,000 MILES PER HOUR
I guess some of us guys never lose our boyish enthusiasm for all things having to do with flying. In my case this begins with my being read the story of Icarus as a youngster, reading everything I could find on the first Wright Brothers flight 107 years ago today to flitting around in helicopters over rice paddies in a godforsaken Southeast Asian jungle to an emergency landing in an Air Force transport with multiple engine failures on the desolate rock known as Iwo Jima and onward and upward to the present. Whew! Never mind that the act flying -- as in getting through an airport and being shoe-horned into the seat of a passenger jet -- long ago lost its luster.

Beyond that first Wright Brothers biplane, there have been many other notable aircraft, but it might be tough to beat the faster ever.

1 comment:

Aviation Bblog said...

We’ve surely come a long way. Aircraft are now bigger, faster, and fly for such long distances…I marvel at these machines every day.