Category: Flight
Flight Log
by Tim Erickson (2010)
Heavenly Vista. The Kansas Wheat Harvest, As Seen From the Air
It is mid-June in Kansas, and all over the state the threshing, praying and cursing have begun, signaling the advent of the annual wheat harvest. Kansas remains among the top wheat producing states in the nation, and Sumner County to the south of Wichita is one of the state’s top wheat- growing counties.
Link to PDF of entire article… The Wheat Harvest From The Air
Long Shadows
(as seen from a low-flying aeroplane)
Long Shadows
spread their fingers
across an autumnal
Kansas landscape
as brave Helios races
toward the horizon
Giving shape
to a flatter terrain
than that of Colorado
or California or
New Hampshire
Not yet the prairie –
trees still exit here
in both neat hedgerows
and in scattered groupings
With red riots of color
exploding here and there
across the expanses of a levee
Sublime beauty
on a flatter landscape
Only found in long shadows
Floating in a Sea of Serenity
It’s almost eventide
here in the plains
Sun hastening down
toward the horizon
Cursed Daylight Savings Time
Save me no daylight
but only forces short hops
up into the atmosphere
Tranquil tonight and serene
. . . such a drastic difference
from the noon-time foray
into deceptively violent air
Leroy’s creation is a time machine
as old Mercer tunes
play through my head
in endlessly looping melodies
Floating, floating
in a sea of tranquility
despite the outward rancor
of the noisy Lycoming
Down now: gently, gently
on the control stick
trying to kiss the runway
with a tire’s light touch
Stick forward, stick forward
as gravity brings
the diminutive tail
slowly to earth
Tied down now
but Mercer and Carmichael
stay with me still
floating in this sea of tranquility
Chasing Magenta at Solstice
On Solstice Day
we race westward
chasing the sun
and slowly losing the battle
Not quite fast enough
to keep the orb in sight
but fast enough
to stay in the race
Beautiful, intensely-blue sky
at flight level Four-Five-Zero
with a palate of pure white cloud cover
lying far below
Impossibly long sunset
as color changes slowly
from deep, deep blue
into iridescent magenta
Like a slow, delicious orgasm
The purple just keep building
Against the silhouette
Of our two pilots
In the back I enter
complete bliss
amidst the opulence of
gold and leather and magenta
Eventually, nightfall comes
And we begin our long descent
Out of heaven . . .
Out of heaven . . .
. . . back
. . . down
. . . to
EARTH
When Mr. Corben Came to Town
by Tim Erickson (2003)
A Little Aviation History. Famous In Some Circles, This Pioneer Came and Went With Little Notice In The Air Capital.
The 1920s were huge for the city of Wichita and its relationship to aviation. Early pioneer Clyde Cessna had been flying around since 1911 in a modified “Bleriot-type” monoplane he called Silver Wings; and farther north in Topeka A.K. Longren had been promoting aviation and flying around in a design he had copied from Glenn Curtiss’ Golden Flyer.
Link to PDF of entire article… When Mr Corben Came To Town