A TOURIST OF THE EARTH

Few men know the things I’ve seen,
While dancing the skies
Enacting my dreams.
Above the Earth with grace and poise
A ballet of flight
With my flying toys!

Often in a glance I’ve perceived the wing
As a naked sculpture,
A most beautiful thing,
Sliding through air with simplistic splendor,
An artistic grace,
With feminine gender.

When high above the Earth aloft all alone,
I think of the wing
Evolving from stone,
From Earth to metal to pure design,
Powerful in shape,
Dynamic in line.

And at peace with it along for the ride
Is my soul and life,
With the wing by my side.
Through clouds and rainbows over all
sorts of turf,
At home in the sky,
I’m a tourist of the Earth!

by William Phillips

RATINGS:

1. Private in Airplanes -1971
2. Private Helicopter -1972
3. Commercial Airplane -1975
4. Commercial Multiengine- 1976
5. Instrument Rating- 1977
6. Flight Instructor-Primary -1977
7. Flight Instructor-Instrument Airplane-1977
8. Flight Instructor-Multiengine Airplane- 1983
9. Flight Instructor Glider- 1984
10. Commercial Glider-1983
11. Commercial Hot Air Balloon-1984
12. Flight Instructor, Hot Air Balloons-1984
13. Airline Transport Certificate-1985
14. Commercial Seaplane-1988
15. Seaplane Flight Instructor-1988
16. Commercial Helicopter-1997
17. Lear Jet SIC rating 2007

My husband had an enduring love for flying. He couldn't get enough of it. He grabbed life with much gusto. He was a pilot, an astro-physicist, a certified health physicist, a mathematician, an astromomer, a pianist, an artist, a cook, a writer, a magician, and a businessman. Who knows what else he would have conquered in his life. He passed away in an airplane accident October 18, 2008. I will miss you forever-your loving wife, Janice.