Memories Of Once-In-A-Lifetime Experiences
Writers flying high

Seeing the difference between airspeed and ground speed* is mind-blowing. I know how it works in theory but, not unlike experiencing thinking distance, seeing the reality unfold from the cockpit of a commercial jet as it landed at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport was truly awesome and a bit scary.
The memory came back to me when I read a story by Barb Dalton. This led me onto two others by Karen Schwartz and Adrienne Beaumont. I’ve been following these three writers for a while now and it occurred to me that this flying trio should be recommended to others — they write across a huge range of topics.
It’s not the norm for a passenger to sit in the cockpit of a commercial jet and their exploits, like mine, all happened pre 9th September 2001. These days the cockpits are locked and it’s a rare occurrence for anyone other than flight crew or cabin crew to be allowed in. For me, as for them, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Here’s Barb Dalton heading for Montréal:
Karen Schwartz en route to Florida:
Adrienne Beaumont flying to LA:
My own aviation adventure had a far softer landing than the time I experienced the reality of thinking distance on the road. Indeed none of the above three experiences put any of us in the back of an ambulance being blue-lighted to hospital. I hope that my close encounter with thinking distance was also a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
* Airspeed versus ground speed for anyone who’s interested: a plane needs airflow around its wings in order to fly — the airspeed (speed relative to the air through which it travels) will determine if it has enough. Air- and ground speed are not the same. Ground speed is speed relative to the ground — headwinds, tailwinds, etc will determine which is greater. An aircraft going straight up or — ulp! — straight down would have a ground speed of zero. And if you want to convert one to the other, airspeed is ground speed minus wind speed. Click HERE for more detail from NASA.