Santa's View
My palms get wet and sweaty, my stomach clenches together, and we begin to take off. The terrain becomes smaller and smaller as we lift off the ground and float through the white clouded sky. The houses look like little toys, and the people are like dolls, as we float higher, and higher, into the blue unknown. Roads that are paved interstates appear as dirt trails, and the cars shrink to the size of mini racecars. Everything grows minute as we soar into the sky. Along the ride I search, but I have yet to find Santa’s route…
Gliding over swirling roads and houses that I have never seen from above, I notice a whole new perspective on things. Standing on the ground you see a vast and unexplored world, and twists and turns ahead of you. Earth from an airplane is huge and widely modified with machinery and winding roads. From up above the world seems never ending and the tree lines seem to stretch and stretch.
Captivated by the moment the pilot, Phil, reminds me why I am up here. My younger sister and I had been sent on this “mission” by my uncle, so we would have an appreciation for the amount of ground Santa’s route covers in just one night. Looking up into the sky a golden trail of glimmering dust catches my eye. It spreads out into a path through the sky ahead of us, and it disappears into its own mystery as we follow it…Could this be Santa’s route?
As we travel the next 45 minutes through the sky, we follow M24 up through Caro, and around the Marlette area, looking at the wooded trees beneath us, trying to spot a deer. I am amazed at the scenery from up there, how the fields are laid out symmetrically to the roads and rail road tracks, which ran through them. Everything looks so different. The water looks huge and we can tell the different depths of the lakes. The trees seem to be separated into groups, but from the ground they are one huge mass. Roads which seemed before to go nowhere now connect when seen from above. Looking down, all roads intertwine into a puzzle we could see through the small window of our Cessna. Everything is different to the eye from an airplane.
From 3000 feet above earth all that was once “bigger than life” seems small.
When we return to DuPont Airport (D95), and begin our descent it becomes apparent to me why Santa still cruises the world in that sled. After a year of making toys, managing elves, and double checking the list, on Christmas Eve the world and all that is in it, becomes amazing.
My first flight through the skies of Michigan took place at DuPont-Lapeer Airport, located just off Roods Lake road. Before the airport was built the land was home to small farms, and one of Mayfield Township’s Founding Fathers, John B. Evans. DuPont Airport is locally owned and has been since the end of World War II. The combined efforts of Frank Williamson and Harold Upper resulted in the airport’s construction after the war. In 1956 George DuPont bought the airport and operated it until August 1st, 1996. At that time George DuPont opted to sell DuPont Airport to Mayfield Township. Since Mayfield Township has taken ownership the Airport it has been self-supporting, and has not needed tax funding. Today, DuPont Airport offers flight instruction to those wishing to learn to fly, commercial charter flights, and mechanical repairs.
-Ashley
Gliding over swirling roads and houses that I have never seen from above, I notice a whole new perspective on things. Standing on the ground you see a vast and unexplored world, and twists and turns ahead of you. Earth from an airplane is huge and widely modified with machinery and winding roads. From up above the world seems never ending and the tree lines seem to stretch and stretch.Captivated by the moment the pilot, Phil, reminds me why I am up here. My younger sister and I had been sent on this “mission” by my uncle, so we would have an appreciation for the amount of ground Santa’s route covers in just one night. Looking up into the sky a golden trail of glimmering dust catches my eye. It spreads out into a path through the sky ahead of us, and it disappears into its own mystery as we follow it…Could this be Santa’s route?
As we travel the next 45 minutes through the sky, we follow M24 up through Caro, and around the Marlette area, looking at the wooded trees beneath us, trying to spot a deer. I am amazed at the scenery from up there, how the fields are laid out symmetrically to the roads and rail road tracks, which ran through them. Everything looks so different. The water looks huge and we can tell the different depths of the lakes. The trees seem to be separated into groups, but from the ground they are one huge mass. Roads which seemed before to go nowhere now connect when seen from above. Looking down, all roads intertwine into a puzzle we could see through the small window of our Cessna. Everything is different to the eye from an airplane.
From 3000 feet above earth all that was once “bigger than life” seems small.When we return to DuPont Airport (D95), and begin our descent it becomes apparent to me why Santa still cruises the world in that sled. After a year of making toys, managing elves, and double checking the list, on Christmas Eve the world and all that is in it, becomes amazing.
My first flight through the skies of Michigan took place at DuPont-Lapeer Airport, located just off Roods Lake road. Before the airport was built the land was home to small farms, and one of Mayfield Township’s Founding Fathers, John B. Evans. DuPont Airport is locally owned and has been since the end of World War II. The combined efforts of Frank Williamson and Harold Upper resulted in the airport’s construction after the war. In 1956 George DuPont bought the airport and operated it until August 1st, 1996. At that time George DuPont opted to sell DuPont Airport to Mayfield Township. Since Mayfield Township has taken ownership the Airport it has been self-supporting, and has not needed tax funding. Today, DuPont Airport offers flight instruction to those wishing to learn to fly, commercial charter flights, and mechanical repairs.
-Ashley
