2 September 2010
I flew one of the interns this morning – in fact it was the first intern to go up in our little orange plane for the season. Karen is a beautiful brown eyed brunette. Originally from the eastern side of Australia, Brisbane, she got bored of her job as the Marine biologist for a popular tourist resort. The internship with the MCSS was a nice change in scenery, before she decides what to do next. Of course we had a great chat.
The weather was real border line. It put a certain ominous anticipation in our trip to the Airport. Even so, our conversation was light and easy. Then would you believe we got a flat tyre! It took a while to sort that out – the fact that we did not have a spare did not make things easier either. And then in my own way I pondered if God was perhaps giving me a sign that I should not be flying today… (Many times too I have told God that I am a thick skinned man and if he does not want me to do something to please hit me over the head with a large pole so that there can be no confusion! ) Of course all the time I was making light conversation with Karen. At the hangar it was drizzly but we went through the motions of preparing the plane – if we got a gap we could get up within just a few minutes. When it stopped drizzling some low level cumulus clouds whizzed over head at high speed but the wind was almost plum down the runway so up went.
Surprisingly it was rather good. The sun came out, the clouds parted and we had a clear run to the south. Once again, in my own way I relaxed knowing that God honored my usual request the other way round too. (If we were meant to go he would light the way:) Far to the south east the horizon was grey though. These rain clouds would not get to us in another hour at least. Of course Karen was overjoyed and who could blame her. Even I had that usual tinge of sincere appreciation of this work. It sure has its moments, often and then some!
At South point the wind turned on to nearly 30mph. No doubt those stormy clouds to our south east would be upon us a lot faster than I thought. Already they were just 10 miles away and looked pretty dark and intimidating – Karen had no objections to heading back earlier either. This is the nature of flying in Seychelles on those stormy and windy days. It does take a fair amount of experience to know the conditions and to judge just how far one can push it.
I let Karen fly back and like a seasoned champ she surfed the clouds and the rising winds.
“Just think of it as a surf board and ride it back home…” I said. Well, I just assumed she would know something about surfing coming from a coastal city in Australia. Either way, it worked and I took over just for the landing – the gauging water lines from the gust-front and driving rain just a mile or so away not even noticeable to her.
Safely in the hangar with smiles coming from the both of us, I realized that that was way too easy. Outside the rain was pouring down. Whether I had made it look easy or that God was looking out for us was not the point. Rather the fact that it was not easy at all. I pondered too the notion that perhaps I have become complacent. That perhaps others who look on could be deceived into thinking that this is easy…
God can be very subtle too. Perhaps tomorrow I’d better go to the airport with Neil…
Wish you were here..!
;)
I flew one of the interns this morning – in fact it was the first intern to go up in our little orange plane for the season. Karen is a beautiful brown eyed brunette. Originally from the eastern side of Australia, Brisbane, she got bored of her job as the Marine biologist for a popular tourist resort. The internship with the MCSS was a nice change in scenery, before she decides what to do next. Of course we had a great chat.
The weather was real border line. It put a certain ominous anticipation in our trip to the Airport. Even so, our conversation was light and easy. Then would you believe we got a flat tyre! It took a while to sort that out – the fact that we did not have a spare did not make things easier either. And then in my own way I pondered if God was perhaps giving me a sign that I should not be flying today… (Many times too I have told God that I am a thick skinned man and if he does not want me to do something to please hit me over the head with a large pole so that there can be no confusion! ) Of course all the time I was making light conversation with Karen. At the hangar it was drizzly but we went through the motions of preparing the plane – if we got a gap we could get up within just a few minutes. When it stopped drizzling some low level cumulus clouds whizzed over head at high speed but the wind was almost plum down the runway so up went.
Surprisingly it was rather good. The sun came out, the clouds parted and we had a clear run to the south. Once again, in my own way I relaxed knowing that God honored my usual request the other way round too. (If we were meant to go he would light the way:) Far to the south east the horizon was grey though. These rain clouds would not get to us in another hour at least. Of course Karen was overjoyed and who could blame her. Even I had that usual tinge of sincere appreciation of this work. It sure has its moments, often and then some!
At South point the wind turned on to nearly 30mph. No doubt those stormy clouds to our south east would be upon us a lot faster than I thought. Already they were just 10 miles away and looked pretty dark and intimidating – Karen had no objections to heading back earlier either. This is the nature of flying in Seychelles on those stormy and windy days. It does take a fair amount of experience to know the conditions and to judge just how far one can push it.
I let Karen fly back and like a seasoned champ she surfed the clouds and the rising winds.
“Just think of it as a surf board and ride it back home…” I said. Well, I just assumed she would know something about surfing coming from a coastal city in Australia. Either way, it worked and I took over just for the landing – the gauging water lines from the gust-front and driving rain just a mile or so away not even noticeable to her.
Safely in the hangar with smiles coming from the both of us, I realized that that was way too easy. Outside the rain was pouring down. Whether I had made it look easy or that God was looking out for us was not the point. Rather the fact that it was not easy at all. I pondered too the notion that perhaps I have become complacent. That perhaps others who look on could be deceived into thinking that this is easy…
God can be very subtle too. Perhaps tomorrow I’d better go to the airport with Neil…
Wish you were here..!
;)
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