National Aviation Day

2017-08-19

Now I don't REALLY have a fear of flying. It's more a fear of FALLING. I recall flying at 45,000 feet to Chicago once at night at how small the twinkling lights on the surface of the earth appeared and how intent I was on listening for anything irregular coming from the engines.

Let us say that at the moment I was not too enthused at the thought of being on the safest conveyance in modern travel and visions of fiery impact predominated my free fall thoughts for much of that trip.

It's National Aviation Day commemorating manned flight and corresponding to the anniversary of Orville Wright's birthday. Proclaimed in 1939 by Franklin D Roosevelt it became part of the United States Code and any sitting President may proclaim the day and order federal resources to fly the US flag and inspire the citizens to hold activities on the day which promote the field of aviation.

With the new convergence of the airplane and space vehicle whereby landings are said to become runway affairs where you embark and disembark like an airline passenger perhaps I'll grow more warm to the notion of the wild blue yonder or the final frontier.