Pilot – June 2018

54 | Pilot June 2018 | pilotweb.aero

island in North Carolina during
winter was convenient for flight,
yet I chose to risk life and limb
and fly in marginal conditions
for a goal that probably belonged
somewhere on a wall in a bar in
Texas, or in a manual for diagnosis
of the mentally disturbed.) Since
I had recently shipped my wife
off on a long holiday to the US, I
now had the chance to live like an
unhinged single male. But instead
of philandering, debauchery,
and slovenly housekeeping, I
could devote my maleness to an
unabashed flying binge.
For some reason, eight days
seemed devilishly nefarious to
overcome, like it was forbidden
fruit. Perhaps it had to do with a
lightning bolt that went whizzing
by at my altitude on day six,
while in the circuit ten minutes
before sunset? Alas, I ‘smashed’
my record, reaching nine days,
only to make the mistake of
sharing such machismo with... a
Spaniard. “Nine days? My record
must be at least forty!” was his
reply. As America had recently
announced to the world its
intention to reclaim the number
one position in emotional under-
development, I was not about to

relinquish the crown of national

pride to some tights-wearing fool

running around chasing bulls with

a sword. Putting on my ideological

spurs and mounting my symbolic

steed of economic inequality, I set

out to smash this petty record of

forty days.

While I didn’t consider how

emotionally magnitudinous

an undertaking it would be to

quintuple my recent achievement,

I did find some relief in speaking

with another bravado-infused

Spaniard, who seemed to think

that I could “have no problem

flying 100 days in a row in

Cerdanya”. Despite this same

sexagenarian having previously

ranted that “it was better under

Franco,” I took him at his word and

continued my fight against the sky.

Surprisingly, it became rather

easy to fly on a daily basis. As

summer was beginning, I had to

accommodate morning fog, early

haze, late day clearer air, and then

afternoon convection. Despite the

stated objective being a continuous

increasing of the count, I had a rule

that I wanted to get some good

photography in, so I tended to aim

for better lighting conditions, many

times flirting with the post dinner-

time thunderstorm, blasting into

the sky at 8.30 p.m. to snap a few

photos and make a quick landing

by sunset.

Flying Adventure: a personal record

ABOVE: foggy valleys

and mountains in haze

BELOW LEFT: mussel

farms in the Delta de

l’Ebre, Catalunya

BELOW RIGHT: Les

Arènes de Nimes