Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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Flying VIII. The Professor's Flight. As stated in my Flying VI and VII, I ferried people Around for their convenience and my needed hours. As time passed, ever nearer towards my Ph.D. In Vertebrate Zoology and Ecology, The word worked its way upward to professors, Who needed to reach an out-of-the-way destination. One afternoon, I received a call from a professor, Needing to go to Pokeepsie, N.Y. (I had landed there as an 8th grade student, Flying with my father on a similar trip years ago.) The day and time were arranged and we took off. The weather was just fine, but as we progressed, The cloud cover built up--the layered, stratus clouds were the type. When my instruments indicated that we were over our destination, I started looking for a hole-- One soon appeared and I needed to manage, because I was on VFR *, To corkscrew down to get through the opening of the white layer. I had never done such a thing, exactly, But having had some experience with such maneuvers, We made it through, got our terrestrial bearings, And made a nice three-point landing at the little airport ! While the professor went for his meeting, I stayed with the Cessna and studied for my next class. After a time, he returned and up we went. But now the stratus layer had dispersed, So there was no more needed circling upward-- Just a nice evening flight home to the Ithaca Airport, 'High above Cayuga's waters'. * Note: VFR is 'visual flight rules', using no instruments (a whole other story). Frank Maurer 1 August 2023 1815 Hours.