Pilot – June 2018

56 | Pilot June 2018 | pilotweb.aero

and then whored plane rides in

exchange for car transport. I would

not let terrestrial machinations

interfere with what was now a

deluded fixation.

The terminus arrived at day

number 84. Occupied with care

for an injury suffered by our

(subsequently deceased) dog,

an excess of work, and a dose

of fatigue, I got to the airport

ninety minutes before sundown,

as a thunderstorm was brewing.

Pre-flighted and ready to go, it

turned into a tropical storm, with

raging wind and heavy rain. Try

as I might, I could not rationalise a

sequence of logic that I could live

with to take the plane up. Death

equally finalises the daily flying

count as does discretion. I locked

the hangar door and went home

after having flown 83 days in a row.

I wondered what I would do with

my life when the record was over,

even being a little afraid of the

void. I quickly found out what to

do with my time: all of the things

I did not attend to for 83 days. It

took weeks to dig out on a personal

level, never for a second regretting

the mathematical and aeronautical

fanaticism that took place. While

I would normally accept the

previously mentioned gold medal

of emotional under-development, I

must pass that to the original pilot

who inspired my bravado. Some

months after this little binge, he

came perilously close to colliding

with my aircraft, while practising

some dubious traffic management

procedures. But don’t worry, as he

put it, “no pasa nada”.

Garrett Fisher has published sixteen

books, thirteen of which relate to

aviation. He aimlessly wanders

unforgiving jurisdictions in his Piper

Cub while ranting about it on his

blog at http://www.garrettfisher.me.

Flying Adventure: a personal record

In the end, it was rain that stopped play...

... but not before many diverse locations, including Tarragona, had been visited