up, up and away

A member of our agency’s Board makes his living by flying over the Great Salt Lake and scoping out good brine shrimp spots, then directing boats to those spots.  He has his own two-seater plane, and he graciously offered to take me on a flight before I left Utah.

The plane is from 1954 or 1955.  It is made of fabric-covered steel & aluminum and weighs about 1,000 pounds.  Quite light.

While in the air, he asked if I wanted to take the wheel a bit.  I tried it out.  He had me turn to the right, level it out, turn to the right, level it out.  I was frightened, not because I felt I had no control, but because I felt I had too much control.  When I moved the steering wheel, the plane moved!  No more, please.

When we got out of the plane, I said, “That was fun!”
“You handled that with remarkable aplomb.  At the beginning you were careful, but it was…cautious yet robust.”
“Really?  Huh.  Maybe it was just your smooth operation of the plane!”  Curious, I pressed him: “How could you tell I was cautious?”
“Because of the questions you asked.”  (Or how tightly I cinched the seat belts?)  “But, it’s pretty rare to handle the motion as easily as you did.  I was wondering how you’d do….”
” ‘Cautious yet robust.’  That’s going to be my next personal ad.”

I had to brag about that only because it helps reassure me I can handle such things…take risks but also be careful…and be ROBUST.  I hope I am how he described me, and that those skills come in handy in the future.

I think the difference is in expectation.  I didn’t expect this plane to fly like a smooth, giant jet.  I expected it to have those gulp-worthy dips that make your stomach plummet.  So those dips didn’t come as a surprise.  Certainly there were times when I was scared.  I remember when we got r-e-a-l-l-y close to Mt. Timpanogos and I wondered just how close we would get.  The rocks below looked like giant sharks snapping at me with pointy teeth.
Or when I saw that we’d gone through half our fuel but weren’t halfway done with the trip.  (There are actually two fuel tanks, so I was only reading the one.)
Or right before take-off, when I shut my door, then leaned on it and it popped right open.
“Yeah—it doesn’t really latch.”

But I’m still here!  I didn’t die!  That was fun.  I am going to miss this scenic, unique place.

Mt. Timpanogos from the back side:

See where the water is purple/pink? That's from bacteria.

The red water is from more bacteria!  The green water (on the other side) is a little deeper.

Neon green water?? How many colors are in the Great Salt Lake?

My talented pilot pointed out the red gatherings in the lake, which are brine shrimp.  Or, the shrimps’ eggs.  If you view this video, you can kind of see some trailing lines of their eggs.

There were other giant red patches, and apparently that means the shrimp are stressed out!

Pretty cool day off.

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