STORY
Watching Fourth of July Fireworks Across Oregon from 3,000 Feet
Watching Fourth of July Fireworks Across Oregon from 3,000 Feet
- One of my most memorable flights was taking to the air on the night of the Fourth of July with my mother, Retha Schwartz, in the cockpit.
The 3,000-Foot Perspective
- Before the flight, I had envisioned the fireworks exploding high up in the night sky right at or near our flight altitude.
- Cruising at 3,000 feet above the Willamette Valley, reality quickly set in:
- Fireworks typically only reach about 300 to 400 feet off the ground.
- From 3,000 feet up, instead of giant explosions right outside the windscreen, the displays looked like tiny, fuzzy, sparkling bursts down near the terrain.
A Valley of Simultaneous Light Shows
- What made the flight breathtaking was the panoramic vantage point.
- While spectators on the ground could only watch their single local community display, from our perch in the sky we could look across the entire horizon and watch the fireworks simultaneously lighting up Salem, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, Hillsboro, Oregon, and dozens of smaller towns all at once.
- It was a wonderful flight and a truly unique mother-son memory.
- See Two-Hour Lunch Flights Around Mount St. Helens in a Cessna 172, Earning My Private Pilot License in 39 Hours at Eagle Flight Center, and My Pilot Training and Aviation Days.
What links here
These facts are as Randal recalls them, but much time has passed for most of this. If you find a factual error, please email realmerlyn@gmail.com.