All Part of the Act

Kent Pietsch caused comment at the Rexburg Air Show today when one of the ailerons on his plane fell off as he was flying over the airport.

Of course, it's all part of the act.

With us not knowing at the time, however, watching that aileron flutter to the ground made us all a bit nervous. Especially when another part -- we think it was a spare rear tire -- plummeted to the ground a bit later.

This guy's got the kind of job I want. No, I do not want to fly around in some crazy stunt plane for a candy company, no matter how well-respected the company may be. Nor how well-constructed the plane is, as it had to be to fly with only one aileron. No, what I want is the kind of job I don't consider a job, something I do for fun but that people pay me for it. Writing might be it. Journalism certainly was not. And technical writing, which I'm doing now, it's better than journalism but it's a far sight from soaring in the clouds watching parts of my plane tumble to the ground.

I am working on the writing thing. Not as much as I should, but I am working on it. This blog is part of the whole writing world -- because it represents something I don't have to do, but something I want to do. And that's just fine. It doesn't bring me money, but it does bring me self-satisfaction. Almost as much as the self-satisfaction Ed Begley, Jr., gets from driving around in his little eco-car.

And yes, that is Mr. Peitsch landing his plane on that little platform on the truck. Landing it there looks deceptively easy, but I'll bet it's harder to get the plane off than it is to get it on.