Gull’s Eye

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By John Wiley

This marked our last flight in the powerful 172Q we call “Tripp” aka N66111, fortuitously on the birthday of the new owner who’s coming to fly her with his wife home to FL. Although somewhat smoky and hazy, we enjoyed these “gull’s eye” views of some activities we’ve seen so many times off our beaches. Most unusual this time was someone we noticed kite surfing with no wake, apparently getting a long stretch of “air” before dropping the board and plopping into the water.

The kelp harvest boat was doing a trim off More Mesa. Kayakers were diving in the kelp along the outfall pipe off Goleta Pier. This brief farewell flight in our favorite aircraft is all the sweeter, having taken in scenes like these and being able to share them with you. Before long we’ll be flying again, back in the Santa Barbara Flying Club planes we explored the continent in before doing so even more in Tripp.