Aim High

Watch more YouTube videos on AOL Video

Sometimes a little humor is enough to get you through a tough week.

Which way to the beach?

I spent the afternoon cruising up and down the Gulf Coast in my orange and white helicopter doing a bit of visual navigation training (getting from Point A to Point B by looking for and following stuff on the ground). Guess it’s not all that hard to follow the beach until you get where you’re going, but who wouldn’t want to hop in a helicopter and fly along the beach if given the opportunity? Besides, I heard there was an awesome barbecue place in Panama City, and I wanted to check it out!

Unfortunately we’re prohibited from taking photos while flying (safety reasons), so you’ll just have to imagine the miles of white sandy beaches and clear blue skies slipping by as you make your way toward one of the most popular spring break destinations on the Gulf of Mexico. The weather could not have been better for a Sunday afternoon in early March, and thousands of folks were on the beach enjoying it.

At one point I ended up overtaking a Cessna who was lazily towing a banner along the beach advertising a local restaurant. The whole event was a bit surreal to be honest with you. “Uhhh, Cessna towing banner, this is Navy Helicopter Zero-Seven-Nine, eastbound at one thousand feet on the beach. We’ll be overtaking you on your left.” I never imagined passing anything in a helicopter!

Sometimes you need a flight or two like this to keep you motivated and I’m pretty sure I was about due. The Navy has been keeping me busy with a plethora of instrument flights, simulator events, and classes of late. Don’t get me wrong: flying instruments is great, but I got into this whole aviation thing for the sightseeing! Let’s hope this episode of cruising the beach at 500 feet is exactly what I needed to keep me slogging through the rest of the instrument syllabus. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow!