My fourth, and longest, training flight in the Cherokee Six was yesterday. Hopping around in the flooded areas to the south of our home base at MWA, we hopped through five airports and stopped for lunch. Todd and I were back in the Cherokee Six yesterday for another high-performance training flight. Neither of us had a flight planned, so we headed south from MWA towards Mayfield, KY (M25) for a touch-and-go. We then headed down to Union City, TN (UCY) and over to New Madrid, MO (EIW) before stopping at Cape Girardeau, MO (CGI) for lunch at The Drop Zone.
The recent extreme rainfall in our area had the CGI airport closed a day before as flood waters covered both runways. South of the area, some areas were more than 80% submerged. Flying over the area was somewhat surreal, as among the muddy water, you could see small hills with houses, completely cut-off from the rest of the area. I don’t know if people were in the homes or not, I certainly hope not.
The view from the air can often distance you from your surroundings, or in some cases bring you even closer. The extent of the flooding cannot truly be known unless you see it from the air.
A jump through Perryville, MO (K02) and we headed home. Add 2.9 hours in the PA-32-300 to the logbook, less than 12 hours to go.