An Eighteen Year View Through the Acrylic

Eighteen years ago today, I launched from Guthrie, Oklahoma (KGOK) in my new-to-me airplane with an hour of time in type and flew it home to Three Rivers, MI (KHAI). The journey home was six times longer than my previous longest flight and traversed states that I had never visited before. Navigation relied on paper charts backed up by a handheld GPS. It was only my second time using satellite navigation in an aircraft. While it was a big day for me, it was only the beginning. I had no idea what I was really getting myself into, how long the Warrior would remain a part of my family, or where it would ultimately take me.

September 8, 2014 in Cortland, NY.

While the exterior of Warrior 481 has changed little in those eighteen years (except for some paint lost to flying through rain and some rearrangement of antennae), the airplane underwent a heart transplant in 2020 and multiple instrument panel upgrades over the years.

Warrior 481's strictly analog instrument panel as purchased, photographed September 1, 2008 in Le Roy, NY.

Warrior 481's panel photographed in flight near Boston on February 6, 2022.

Unchanged over the years are the windows and the amazing views that they provide. To commemorate the anniversary, I wanted to share a retrospective of images captured through those windows, scenes that ultimately surpassed my limited imagination and expectations on the day I took off from Guthrie. (Yes, it's the blog equivalent to a sitcom clips episode.)

Niagara Falls. August 18, 2012.

Landing Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (CYTZ), Toronto, Ontario, Canada. June 15, 2018.

Departing Marathon Key, FL on June 13, 2011.

Interchange of I-94 and US-131 west of Kalamazoo, MI. August 21, 2005.

Emerging from the clouds en route to Sodus, NY from North Carolina on August 21, 2014.

Landing above the fog at Olean, NY (KOLE) on July 4, 2021.

Chimney Bluffs on the edge of Lake Ontario, Wolcott, NY. May 2, 2015.

Dave's Super Decathlon pulling out of formation over South Haven, MI on April 11, 2004.

Over the northeastern Lake Ontario Shore on July 15, 2020.

Chicago, IL from over Lake Michigan. April 3, 2005.

Mackinac Bridge in the early morning from over the Straits of Mackinac near St. Ignace, MI. July 8, 2009.

Adirondack Mountains in northeastern NY. February 15, 2020.

Fields east of Grand Rapids, MI on September 18, 2004.

Sunset over Western NY, December 22, 2014.

Middle Falls, Letchworth State Park, Castile, NY. January 4, 2009.

Sodus Pierhead Lighthouse, Sodus Point, NY. January 4, 2014.

Downtown Rochester, NY, November 30, 2019.

Adirondack Mountains, January 24, 2016.

Lake Michigan shoreline near South Haven, MI on November 28, 2004.

Manhattan, New York City, September 7, 2019.

Wayne County / Detroit Metropolitan Airport (KDTW), Romulus, MI. August 12, 2017.

Niagara Falls, American Falls, August 18, 2012.

In formation with Dave over the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Empire, MI. May 16, 2004.

River valley in central Pennsylvania en route to Lock Haven, February 16, 2008.

Wind turbines in Ontario, Canada on September 16, 2017.

Landing at the Alton Bay Ice Runway (Alton, NH) on February 17, 2018. Photo by Ed C.

Sunset over the Nine Mile Nuclear Plant on Lake Ontario, Oswego, NY on July 10, 2014.

Departing the Williamson Sodus Airport on a cloudy day, September 7, 2019.

Lighthouse at Point Betsie on Lake Michigan, Frankfurt, MI. July 8, 2009.

Over western Massachusetts on April 18, 2021.

Sodus Bay from over Lake Ontario near Sodus Point, NY. February 27, 2015.

On approach to Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport, May 27, 2017. Photo by Kristy.

A Piper Cub landing in Penn Yan, NY. October 8, 2010.

Clouds and haze along the Lake Michigan shoreline near South Haven, MI. November 22, 2004.

Twilight over Sodus Bay, September 18, 2019.

Middle Falls, Letchworth State Park, Castile, NY. September 26, 2011.

Over Western NY at sunset, September 25, 2016.

Thousand Islands region of the St Lawrence River near Alexandria Bay, NY. October 7, 2006.

Lake Ontario shoreline, February 17, 2014.

Thunderstorm deviation over Buffalo, NY. July 30, 2018.

Lansing Capital Region International Airport (KLAN), Lansing, MI. September 18, 2004.

Between layers over Rochester, NY, June 19, 2021.

Ice on Sodus Bay, February 11, 2017.

Catskill Mountains in the haze, November 6, 2012.

Wall o' clouds over Lake Erie, August 12, 2017.

I-90 near Batavia, NY on January 10, 2010.

Big Sable Point Lighthouse on the shore of Lake Michigan, Ludington, MI. July 10, 2005.

Landing at the Williamson Sodus Airport (KSDC), Sodus, NY. September 15, 2018.

Undercast en route to Block Island, RI, October 10, 2017.

Frozen St Lawrence River and the Heart Island (Boldt Castle) power house, February 10, 2019.

Glory cast on a thin cloud layer near Canandaigua, NY, March 24, 2018.

Just another spectacular Lake Michigan sunset near South Haven, MI. September 22, 2004.