Head above the clouds

National Review, March 24, 1997 by Tappen Soper

Mountains along my route across New Mexico and Arizona rise to ten thousand feet, and so I chose twelve thousand for my cruising level. To avoid physiological problems I used a nasal cannula to draw oxygen from a portable bottle. Oxygen is not legally required at that altitude, but symptoms of oxygen insufficiency include a feeling of euphoria, and I wanted to be sure to remain level-headed. Near Albuquerque, afternoon showers and thundershowers were developing. These appeared as a series of cumulo-nimbus with bases a thousand feet above me skirted with white curtains of rain reaching to the ground. Lightning flashes were occasionally visible in the rain. Neither the rain nor the lightning represented a threat, but an encounter with hail would spoil the day, and so, with the approval of Albuquerque Center, I diverted left and right of course to avoid the showers. Airliners on the frequency asking for deviations around major cloud buildups told me that there was worse weather higher up. The showers ended north of Phoenix, and I flew over the pastel waters of Roosevelt Lake under clear skies before descending steeply into the Phoenix area to land at Deer Valley Airport.

Only a little over three hundred miles of the journey remained. Phoenix Departure Control vectored me over the center of the city before sending me on course to Gila Bend to the southwest. From there I flew along the border past Yuma and El Centro. Two hours later the sun was low in the sky ahead, causing me to put on my darkest sunglasses before I contacted San Diego Approach and began my final letdown. As I descended over the coastal mountains I could see only the peaks, which appeared as blue islands in a sea of white haze. Final approach to Montgomery Field was directly into the sun, and so I couldn't see the runway until I was only a mile out. The wheels touched the ground at 6:47 P.M. Pacific Time, just minutes before sunset. Sixteen hours had passed since I left North Carolina. A little over thirteen of those had been spent in the air flying low enough to see the texture of the earth. I could think of no better way to gain a deeper appreciation of the breadth and diversity of our magnificent land.