Yujun at the yoke
Yujun flew an airplane this morning.
Our friend Chris Boyer took us up in his beautiful red ‘58 Cessna. He was incredibly patient and generous, explaining the procedures, gauges, digital readouts, and challenges of flying an aircraft through the wild skies of Montana.
After rolling it out of the hangar with his bare hands, we got in and he fired it up like an old Chevy. We flew south, out past Lone Peak, skimming the mountains and looking down on inaccessible lakes.
As a kid who knows the engineering details of pitch, yaw, and other things I don’t understand about airplanes, Yujun seemed nonplussed with Chris handing him the controls. We went left and right, up and down, as I worked to keep my heart in my chest. I’m not sure whether it was from pride or panic, but my pulse was definitely going.
The world is so big from a few thousand feet up, and we are so small up in the thin, cold air, buzzing around and trying not to die. It’s absolute madness that humans do this, but I understand why he likes it so much.
Me, I was happy to be back on the ground. The ground has a lot going for it.
I’ll leave the flying to Yujun…
