The end is near

[sleepingsquirrel]

For centuries men have gazed skyward at the heavens trying to wrap their heads around its immenseness. They even dreamed of leaving their earthbound existance in flights of fancy , perhaps to cavort among the stars and planets free from the bonds of gravity.

Yesterday I saw something very unique while flying and wanted to share it with you. Although I have been known to never let the truth get in the way of a good story ,I have a witness to this strange ,unlikely event.

I was demonstrating the Cessna 150 to a prospective buyer yesterday and had finished the demo. I had already told him the Mooney is not for sale but as we talked I realized his mission would be better served by letting him get a taste of Mooney flight. We preflighted and prepared to take off with the last of the Sun dipping below our horizon.

The navigation lights were just beginning to show from  the ground reflection as we turned onto the active runway to bound forward then skyward. Everything was right as the engine wound up to full power and before he knew it I was pointing out the 1100 FPM climb showing on the VSI . He has a "59" straight tail 172 and was duly impressed with Mooney performance.

Back to my story, we climbed to 2500 feet ,leveled off and flew the same circuit we had done earlier in the day in the 150. I turned onto a Northerly heading and no sooner had given him the controls when, something passed in front of us. I wasn't quite believing my eyes as it streaked from West to East across the windscreen fully visible for at least three seconds as it disappeared in the Northeast darkness . It was slightly above our altitude , and glowing white hot at its forward end and then yellow then green to blue at its tail end. It left a trail in the sky of green that streached all the way across the Mooney windscreen. It must have been doing 127,000 MPH even though we both observed it as if it was in slow motion. I would take an oath that I could see sparks emitted from near where the white turned yellow.

Firstly I suspected a flare, but it had no discernable arc, the color was wrong. Then it hit me ,not literally, that we had seen a meteor. It was up close and personal. All I could say was , did you see that? He answered that he had indeed seen the same thing. Then I told him that it must be a sign , he asked what kind of sign ? I said I'd take this as a sign that you should buy my 150! We laughed and described what we saw to each other just to be sure and then turned toward the field for landing.

I took the controls for a landing I was proud of as the landing light streamed ahead in the darkness, realizing that the small effort I had made to reach the heavens had been rewarded by the heavens reaching toward me.

[Shadrach]

Nice post Squirrel! Truly enjoyed it!

[MooneyMitch]

That is such a fun story!  Thank you for sharing that.  Your writings made me feel as though I were in the cockpit with you, seeing what you saw............great job!  

[flyby201]

Good story.  Wish I had been there to see it.

[jkb458]

Great story Squirrel!!!  I'm glad your fur didn't get singed!!!