Bird-like Contraptions

It’s the time of year again when my focus at work is directed out my window rather than towards my monitor. My work is in the SoDo area, maybe a mile north of Boeing Field; airliners and private planes taking off and landing are common sites. The other day a formation of four CH-53’s flew low and slow directly over the building, rattling the walls which was so very cool for me. Soon Seafair will be upon us again and with it the Blue Angels F/A-18’s. They practice for several days before the show and we all go out and watch them as best as we can. Going to the annual air show at Fairchild AFB was a highlight of my youth and it really spawned a love of aircraft for me. From Grade six on, I could identify everything in the sky and was a total aircraft geek. At the time, Fairchild was still a SAC base and home to B-52’s, the sound of which is one of the most comforting to my ears. My favourite air show memory is actually of that huge, ungainly monster taking off on full military power and climbing what seemed to be straight up into the sky. I also love the sound of UH-1 helicopters, that distinctive “whump-whump” of the rotors that just reverberates somewhere deep inside you and the sight and sound of the Coast Guard Dolphin helo that flies by my apartment nearly every hour. Just a few more weeks and I’ll be out in the parking lot staring up into the sky, waiting for the Blue Angels to scream overhead.