I have witnessed more breath taking sceneries than I think any person could ever count. I’ve stayed at some of the most luxurious ski resorts in the Rocky Mountains. I have spent several nights in a row on every island throughout the Caribbean.
I’ve vacationed in every major city throughout Europe, along with several spectacular smaller villages. I’have been on a four night cruise through the Mediterranean. After all of this, the most amazing scene I have ever been able to enjoy is watching the sunset over the valley we live in from the pilot’s seat in my small plane.
The perfect night
As my wife and I approached our ten year anniversary, I started to make plans for what needed to be the most romantic night of our marriage. I racked my brain for a place on the map she had never traveled to, but nothing sounded like what I was looking for.
The night needed to be perfect. Our marriage had been full of so many extravagant memories, I couldn’t imagine how I was going to produce the best one yet. That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks.
WIth all of the thousands of miles we had flown together, it had never been just the two of us in my small two seater plane. I am not sure whether she didn’t trust my abilities as a pilot or if I had never taken the time to ask her to accompany me, but for some reason it had never happened.
As the big day became less than two weeks away, I began flying around the time of sunset more than I ever had in the past. The view was amazing and this would top off the previous ten years perfectly. I began studying each flight, trying to figure out what I needed to do to provide her with the perfect view of the sun melting away in the horizon over the bay.
With less than seven days to go, I began experiencing some problems with my climb after taking off. My plane would reach around 2500’ and the fuel pressure would begin to drastically drop. After two or three flights, the climb would be so rough that my engine would begin to stumble.
After checking each of my fuel lines for leaks, I knew the problem was the fairly new pump. It was still under waranty, but a simple replacement wasn’t deserving of my trust. Although I would have to wait three days for the part to be delivered to my mechanic, we decided to order a couple of Weldon aircraft fuel pumps.
Flying solo
After installing the new pump and piecing everything back together, the plane was ready to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The only problem, my wife was 100 percent against getting in an aircraft with me behind the controls. We ended up spending the following weekend at a cabin on Lake Tahoe.
As our twentieth anniversary quickly approaches, two things have remained the same over the past 10 years. My wife will still not get in a plane that I am flying, and I still perform all of the maintenance on my plane’s fuel system with Weldon parts.
