'Twas the Day Before Christmas

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
24 Dec 2012	N21481	5G0 (LeRoy, NY) - 7N1 (Corning, NY) - 5G0	2.1	1109.1

I left Warrior 481 cold and alone in the hangar for much of December, which is a terrible thing to do to an honest airplane.  Finally back from my travels to Vienna and Disney World in Orlando (oh, the contrast!), I waited for a break in the weather to get the airplane back into its native environment.  That break came on Christmas Eve day.

I flew south to Letchworth State Park to test out my early Christmas present, a Nikon Coolpix S8200 point-and-shoot camera (14x optical zoom, image stabilization, 16 megapixel CCD).  In light chop, from 3000 feet, Middle Falls at Letchworth nevertheless came through clear and crisp.  The Kodak I have used for the last three years was having issues, so this gift from my wife and in-laws (mother, father, sister and brother...thank you!) was very timely.

A windmill, photographed from two miles away.  Though the day was hardly a test for how the camera might capture color, it took nice sharp pictures.

I-86 running through Bath, NY.

Hunt Hollow Road and surrounding valley.

Hunt Hollow Ski Club just west of Canandaigua Lake.

Warrior 481 and I flew low over the terrain, following valley highways southeast toward Corning, NY and the Painted Post airport.  As I shut down at the fuel pump, I was met by a lineman from Costa Flying Services who explained that the self-service pump was overcharging people who used their own credit cards.  He swiped the FBO's credit card at the pump and assisted me in fueling the Warrior.

When finished, I followed him inside to reimburse the FBO for the fuel.  Once a receipt was generated, he showed me what I owed versus the price that using my own card would have brought from the self-service pump.  He saved me about $20.

I studied my benefactor for a moment.  He was an older gentleman with a wild white beard bursting forth beneath a warm fur cap pulled snugly over his ears.  Between beard and cap, his dark eyes twinkled merrily.  He wore no red suit nor was he endowed with a gelatinous belly, yet still...I wondered...

Nah.  I thought, shaking my head.  Couldn't be.

I thanked him for his help, wished him a Merry Christmas, and returned to the sky.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good flight!