The month of winter in Perth, W.Australia, motivated me to do some work for Flight Club Airways…so I did some repainting of our L-1011 fleet. Then it was off to the August feature flight – although I wasn’t yet sure what, exactly that was.
Leg One was in our Standard FCA liveried L-1011, Perth to Hong Kong. PHOTO-1
Leg Two was in our Administration livery L-1011, Hong Kong to Honolulu. PHOTO-2
Leg Three was in my Braniff International Paint1 scheme, (I’ve since modified this as well as added a new Braniff Paint2 scheme) Honolulu to Seattle. PHOTO-3
Leg Four was in a downloaded Braniff International 727, Seattle to Boise. PHOTO-4
Leg Three was in my Braniff International Paint1 scheme, (I’ve since modified this as well as added a new Braniff Paint2 scheme) Honolulu to Seattle. PHOTO-3
Leg Four was in a downloaded Braniff International 727, Seattle to Boise. PHOTO-4
Once in Boise, having killed about 7 days waiting for more information, I dug into my FS2000 archives and repainted a Lake Renegade. (I thought about downloading one but with a slow dial-up connection, who has THAT kind of time?) Now I was confident that I was ready for anything this FOTM had for me, land, sea or air!
On the 9th of August I received the FOTM details from Alastair and set off for KIDA, not to land but to start in the right direction. I wrote down the GPS headings on a scrap of paper and then flew VFR, making a quick touch-and-go on a cool-looking lake in central Idaho PHOTO-5 . I made the pass over Idaho Falls, PHOTO-6 and continued my low-level flight PHOTO-7 , for West Yellowstone.
I was nearly there when my bladder started reacting to that earlier Starbuck’s I’d had…actually it had been reacting for the last hour and now it was telling me to land immediately. It was then I spotted a 4,600 foot dirt strip called Henry’s Lake. Man, with the hill there it was REALLY tight PHOTO-8 , but I made it down safely and got stopped just in time to sprint off into the trees. Hmmmm, looks like some GOOD FISHING in there!! After my quick pit-stop I was back in the air PHOTO-9 and heading for West Yellowstone PHOTO-10 .
I continued my low-level flying, nearly trimming the trees on a couple of occasions PHOTO-11 . I’m sure the local campers, wildlife and game wardens were VERY DISPLEASED with the antics! Next, I made my way over to Lake Yellowstone and the natural beauty here is phenomenal.
Having cured my bladder ailments I was now feeling a bit thirsty and was relieved to see a large yacht floating peacefully in the blue waters of the lake. (The joy of flying an Amphibian!) After a couple of low circuits I landed near-by the yacht PHOTO-12 and called up to the crew for a cold Lemonade. Wasn’t I shocked to see one of Bill’s Three-Wishes-Lingerie models lean (WAY) over the rail and wave to me? I rubbed my eyes, really? Then Bill’s little head appeared, "G’Die Mite" he called down to me.
"Bill?" I responded, "I’d just like some Lemonade or something, if I may please?" It must have just been a weird way that the bright sunlight was reflecting off the water or something, but it looked all the world to me like the model’s chest was the same size as Bill’s head!
Either it was an optical illusion or the model had a prior history of some type of surgery! "C’mon up Mite" Bill welcomed, "we’ve got much more than sissy-drink for you!"
Making my way up on deck I shouldn’t have been surprised to see ALL of the Three-Wishes models lounging or modeling on the boat. "Some Foster’s Mite?" Bill offered. "I’ll have one of me Sheila’s fetch you some."
"Ummm, no thanks, I’m flying."
"Rioght…Well then, how ‘bout one of our other fine amenities?"
Then I heard a Whoop and a Holler and a, "YeeeeeeOWWW!" from in the cabin, followed by a crashing sound and laughter. I looked in through the windows to see a stone drunk Alastair on the floor with one of the models! "Bill!" I said, "Do you have any ice water?"
"What’s wrong Mite" he asked, "we’ve got you a bit hot have we?"
Finally Sheila (or was her name Naomi? Maybe it was Nichole or Nikki…something with an N) brought me a cool (if bitter) drink which was refreshing. Then, I had business to do so I made my way back toward the ladder and my aptly named Renegade.
Once back in the air I continued my track across the park toward Boyson PHOTO-13 and then began setting up for approach and landing into Jackson Hole, Wyoming PHOTO-14 .
My landing seemed a bit fast PHOTO-15 but I guess for the altitude here that’s not unusual. Later that day I climbed up into the relative luxury of a new Flight Club Airways A319, called the Silver Bullet. (This is the first draft / test flight for this aircraft – looks like I’ll need to do quite a bit more work on her huh?) PHOTO-16 I flew VOR-to-VOR PHOTO-17 to Portland, Oregon PHOTO-18 where I planned to wait-out the next big adventure in the Flight-of-the-Month Club! PHOTO-19
Alastair, while it wasn’t a big hairy deal, it was very scenic, and very nice. Thank you for the fun tour to a place that, believe it or not, I’ve never been to – real or otherwise! I hope YOU had a nice vacation as well.
cubflounder@toomuchfs.com
