Flying the Peak

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

~George Eliot

Today was a beautiful fall day; a great day to strap on the props and fly low level through the hills and valleys of Western Pennsylvania/Eastern Ohio.

Twice a week the squadron flies tactical low level missions to the south and west of Pittsburgh. It is an area which includes the Ohio River, and some of the wildest parts of three states. There are numerous lakes and creeks, deep valleys and rolling hills strewn with hunting cabins, isolated oil derricks, and open strip mines. When I first started flying here, I was totally surprised there was so much open territory here in the eastern US, where we could get down in the weeds at 300' and do some serious terrain masking. Just another reason that the Pittsburgh area is so appealing as a place to live and work.

The fall is especially spectacular. The weather has been incredibly warm and clear this past week, a period that followed about a week of conversely low temperatures and several days of steady rain. The result has been a truly colorful week of fall colors. This is the time of year I really enjoy flying. The landscape is a kaleidoscope of reds, yellows, orange and brown. The trees are still full of leaves, but the colors make each tree stand out against its neighbors so that it feels like you are soaring over a multi-colored carpet.

The day did not start off promising. After about 5 days of beautiful weather, this morning broke grey and overcast, with low ceilings and thick, puffy clouds drifting swiftly across the horizon. The actual forecast during the morning mission brief promised clearing skies, and as we stepped, we were cheered to find a rainbow arching over the aircraft waiting on the ramp.

We flew two routes today... one to the east and south of the city, and another to the south and west. The eastern route butts up against the fringes of the Allegheny mountains where farms and cultural development meet rocky upcroppings and ridges capped by golden treelines. To the south we were able to drop down low and skim above lakes, reservoirs, and farmlands surrounded by varigated forests and foliage.

The winds were fairly light, which kept the skies scattered with dark puffy clouds. We flew the first half of the mission at a higher altitude, under constant Air Traffic Control, simulating the deployment leg of a mission where we can cover a lot of territory at high altitude and higher speed in a relatively safe environment. At a previously briefed point, we simulated entering a combat area, and drop to tree-top altitude to practise sneaking under the enemy's radar. It is demanding flying, being that close to the ground traveling 200+ mph. The benefit at this time of year is the sheer picturesque panorama that the fall colors of this area bring to the experience. People ohhh and awwww about the colors of upstate New York, New Hampshire, or Vermont, but I wonder if Pennsylvania doesn't compare pretty darn favorably this week of the year.