Recording Your Own Death Spiral
Salt Flats south of Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas We are cruising in our Zenith 601HDS, N314LB, past the southern tip of the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas, en route from Dallas, TX, to Deming, NM, to visit friends Lynn and Philip. Below is an unusual view of the Salt Flats. Normally, they are parched, but today they are wet with moisture and even contain some ponds. What an unusual view! Out comes the camera. For a good shot, we dip the left wing, use the telephoto feature of the camera, move the camera while waiting for the right composition, and become totally absorbed. Time flies when you are having fun, or here, when you are absorbed in taking a good picture. By chance I look up from the viewfinder, and what the ....? The plane is spiraling downward at a steep angle. Ten more seconds of photography fun and I would have been in serious trouble, trying to recover from a deadly downward spiral. So this is the day to learn a lesson: If you are flying solo, as we ...