Think it's cold outside?
Try minus 15 degrees and more than 10,000 feet in the air – in a plane where the heat doesn't work.
That's what Mick Beale and his son did for three weeks in November.
Mick is 73.
His son, Scott, is a senior vice president for an aircraft service company in Virginia. The 46-year-old is also a pilot.
Scott's company had a small, single-engine plane in Africa that needed to be delivered to a military base in North Carolina. The plane could hold up to nine people.
Scott asked his dad to go with him.
It was just them, a mechanic and thousands of miles in the air. Mick, a Vietnam War veteran and former pilot himself, helped navigate.
When the two flew over the Atlantic Ocean, they had to wear immersion suits in case the plane went down. Picture large, puffy red suits that make you look like a marshmallow.
When flying over Greenland, the subzero temperatures made it impossible to hold a conversation or move around because of the energy every little thing took.
Mick, of Mason, guessed it got down to about minus 20 or minus 30 outside. He doesn't know exactly.
"I can tell you this," Mick said. "It was damn cold."
Near the end, they landed in Egypt. Mick posted a video on Facebook calling it "maybe the hottest place I've ever been."
The father and son went to 12 countries. They went on a safari. They visited temples in Egypt.
They flew to France, Scotland, Ethiopia, Croatia and more. In Kenya, they visited an orphanage full of kids who had never seen a plane before. Then they let the kids fly with them.
The reactions moved Mick to tears.
He and his son did so much, it's easier for him to describe the trip in pictures. But ask Mick what the best part of the trip was and he's got a quick answer:
"The greatest thing was being with my son for three weeks."
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A good story and adventure.
ReplyDeleteGlad to know they were able to do the trip together.