[Jamo]

Jeff

I can't one-up ya on that horror story (doubt anyone can), but your post back back some memories (which I been able to keep buried up until now...thanks!).

Back in the late 70s/early 80s, I lived in El Centro in the Imperial Valley. Worked for a large ag trade association which provided legal services to its members fighting the UFW. My area was the deserts of California and all of Arizona. I used to fly between Imperial, Yuma, Blythe and Sky Harbor every week on those cigar shaped POS death traps...Imperial Airlines and the even more super-duper POS Cochise Airlines, not to mention on various King Aires, Commanders and other planes of the Agricultural Air Force (ag companies' private planes that we all hitched rides on).

Folks flying in the desert during the summer can attest to your description of the thermals and what it does to these large replicas of rubberband powered toy airplanes of our youth. I always enjoyed the landings into Imperial, Tacna and Parker when the sidewinds turned the planes sideways so one wheel would touch first, then the rest of the damn thing would pivot around before the other hit ground. In other words, you're looking out your porthole at the length of the runway. Between the ups and downs and the expected phuked up landings, you just sat in your own sweat.

Winters were not much better...ice on the wings on the old planes without deicers...you just land on crop dusting fields and knock the sh!t off. I remember flying from Coachella to Orange County one night sitting in the second seat of a small Piper when we had to fly through the canyons of Mt. San Jaciento cuz the ice kept us from flying over it.

I learned to drive...I didn't give a good golly damn if it was all night to get somewhere for a morning meeting or court date. My gut just couldn't take it anymore.