"Days Past"

In Reference to the record breaking Skydiver story the other day...

Being an Airport runway electrician in my younger days. Hey, somebody had to install and repair the runway lights and all those little blue lights... I have met my share of, lets say risk takers. Mostly in the form of Air force Fighter pilots. Who, as I used to say had a "screw loose", all along secretly wishing that I could do what they did. Air Guard Col. Bonetti would taxi his F-100 fighter onto the approach of the runway, then would wave at me giving me the thumbs up sign, close the canopy and line up his jet fighter on the center line of the two mile long runway and take off into the sky with the roaring of the afterburner at astounding speeds...I swear to you the earth shook when he went by. They left sometimes alone or in twos, threes or fours. A long flame with a loud boom coming out of the tail pipe...Wow, what a sight, especially close up or at night...Sometimes I watched from only 10 or 20 feet away...Having had this wonderful experience day after day I believe I know what it feels like to do what they did. Doing my job as I did years ago lets me appreciate how far we have come in 2012. Sometimes I just don't believe it...