Home»Orion's Flight, 2022

In July of 2022, my grandnephew Orion was 10 and visiting his grandmother just west of Harrisburg. I'd met him at my son Owen's wedding earlier in the month, and had shown him a picture of my trike. Would he like to go for a ride? YES! So this outing was born.

I knew of a beautiful public grass airfield not far from his grandmother's house: Bermudian Valley Airport. It's a 2-hour flight from my home base in Front Royal, so that would be easy.

The only tricky bit was that I fly demo flights only at the edges of the day when the daytime thermals have died down and the air is smooth. That would put me 2 hours from home at sunset, which meant an overnight stay and a ride to the airport at dawn the next day. The problem was solved by airport manager Rob Donato who told me that his field has a pilot lounge with refrigerator, microwave, couches, air conditioning, and a shower! I was welcome to spend the night right at the field.

A few days later, the weather looked good, and off I went. Join me.