Summer's coming

The horizon is 60 miles ahead of us, a crisp line between the ground and the sky, a full semi-circle streching from my left, unobstructed all the way to my right. Not a cloud is seen as we fly north at 225 mph, sitting on smooth air 20,000 feet above the ground. The King Air's twin turbo-props are a dull roar as the enigine cores are spinning at an incredible 63,000 rpm, producing 650 horsepower per side which is used to turn the 4 bladed Hartzell props at 1750 rpm. It has been awhile since we've seen the horizon unubscured by cloud, this is a sure sign that Spring has started to move over and let Summer take its place. Summer, the season where an airplanes performance drops and the approachs become turbulant, the lower atmosphere filled withpockets of rising warm air as the sun heats the earth below. But also, on the other hand, a season of no worries about icing, slick runways and damaging windrows. Plus, beachs, barbeques, warmth, baseball, fishing...and on and on...