Madison From the Air

With Pilot Brian and the Piper Warrior

For my birthday this year, I received a $100 hamburger. Really.

The Jet Room  restaurant inside the Wisconsin Aviation terminal at Truax Field in Madison offers a sandwich with benefits.

You get a certificate good for a meal and a 30 minute plane ride over the city.

I'll get the sandwich later, but I enjoyed the main dish Saturday morning.

As the pilot and I walked to the plane, he asked if I wanted to see anything specific.  I told him I hoped to get some nice fall color shots and the capitol.

It was cold overnight, so the pilot warmed up the plane's engine before we taxied to the runway.

The Wisconsin Capitol

(My seat was next to the pilot with a pilot's yoke in front of me.  Thankfully, I never had to use it.)

From the end of the runway, I noticed the Capitol miles ahead, dead center of the runway. That isn't a coincidence.

We accelerated and very quickly were off the ground.  The air was a bit bumpy 600 feet up, but smoothed out as we spent the rest of the flight around 1,500 feet.

My seat in what could have been the co-pilot's seat was comfortable, with enough windows to see in all directions.

Maple Bluff on the Lake Mendota

Just west of the airport is the Maple Bluff neighborhood home to the Governor's Mansion.

It was one of the best views I had of fall color. The picture (left) shows green space, the road into Maple Bluff and a very nice home on the lake.

Looking at the city from above created a living, three dimensional map below me.  Places I recognize easily from ground level look different up here.

U.W Field House and Camp Randall Stadium

A yaw to the right took us over the narrow isthmus which defines Madison geographically and near the State House.  It's beauty is different from the air.

The Badger's home field sat empty since the home team was playing 175 miles away.  I've seen the overhead shots on TV during games, but wonder what it looks like from this seat during a night game.

Our flight path took us near Oakwood's west campus and over Verona before we looked down on acres of farm land and some very impressive homes.

It was a fast half-hour and I'd do it again in a minute.

Smooth Landing

Flying over familiar territory reveals new information about where things actually are in relation to other places.

While the Capitol is generally north and east from where we live, it looked much different and closer from the air.

Taking the camera gave me a mission - taking photos from angles I might never see again.  I switched my two lenses repeatedly as I saw "pictures" waiting to happen below.

It focused my brain which was helpful the couple of times my stomach was ready to do barrel rolls of its own.

Back on the ground, there were more than 350 photos.  What you see here are a few of the best, and there's some more I want to share Thursday.  Some others might grace this blog page in the future.

That's a great harvest and experience in the skies over Madison.