There’s never a shortage of excitement at the local airport. Recently, there was a golf tournament at a nearby course and a couple of banner towing planes arrived. One in particular caught my eye, a modified Piper Cub. Take a look at this old bird.
Doesn’t look like much, but this is a very capable aircraft. As you can see from the next photo, it is outfitted with only the most basic instruments, the essentials for safe flight.
The pilot sits in there with no door on the starboard side in order to allow him to deploy the tow hook to catch the banner.
Imagine sitting in there for three or four hours a day, towing a banner in circles around a golf course or up and down the local beach. It takes a fair amount of practice be to competent at this job. The next photo shows the plane coming in at the end of the day, getting ready to drop the banner. Click on the photo to see it full scale.
He’s right on course for a safe drop. The banner landed perfectly in the grass between the runway and the taxiway. Then the pilot came around and landed the plane itself. I talked to this fellow for a while after he secured his plane. He’s traveled 2/3’s of the United States doing this kind of work. He’s been over everything from NASCAR races to horse tracks and more. Plus, flying that Piper Cub harkens back to the days when flying was basic and fun.
The Bent Page 
Hard Knocks Down Under
The Broken Shore is the first Peter Temple book I’ve read. It features Joe Cashin, a detective haunted by a splintered family, nagging injuries, and his own questions about justice under the law. The story begins with the attack and subsequent death/murder of a wealthy local man. As Cashin is on and off the case, societal tensions are exposed as well as old wounds in his own personal history. The story careens around odd corners and meanders through Cashin’s past and present, revealing the details about a place where the friction is no longer under the surface. I would have preferred a bit more plot and a bit less interdiction for family heartstrings.
Much has been made about Temple’s writing style. It does have a staccato beat, which at times can be distracting. Chapter endings are a bit like stepping off a cliff. His sparse dialog may leave you guessing sometimes, too. However, he does paint the picture of a portion of Australia many American readers may not know. I’m going read another of his books because this installment has piqued my curiosity.
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on June 23, 2011 at 3:03 pm Leave a CommentTags: book review, Books, fiction, Writing