"The land looks like a patchwork quilt or a broadloom rug,
The higher we go, the smoother the land seems.
The sun’s making the Atlantic shimmer
Casting radiance through the clouds;
We’re out over the ocean and the Florida keys
There is no horizon, you can’t tell
where the ocean ends and the sky begins:
So, this is how it looks to God!”
––Kathy (Knight) Legg: First Flight, 1964
My sister, Kathy, took her first flight at age 19, flying from Miami to Belize. With her wonderful gift for words, she recorded her impressions, beginning:
"I’m actually on the plane. … Big, exciting things are happening!
The props have just started turning—faster now;
The planes rocking! We’re moving!
It’s really quite smooth.
The newly risen sun’s blazing in the windows.
The plane’s rocking from side to side as we
Speed faster down the runway.
The stewardess is speaking.
There is a terrific…..roar suddenly
This is a DC-6.
I’m having a ball . . .”
Today, she would have been 74: She inspires us still.