DL and pilot Richard Rand in the air.
Ludlowville, home from 1981-1987. 159 Ludlowville Road is clearly visible on the left. [Photo: DL]
Post-flight euphoria [Photo: Richard Rand]
Cornell University from the air [photo: DL]
Richard Rand entrusts the controls to a poet.
A-Bomb bunkers west of Lake Cayuga (Photo: Richard Rand)
The plane is a Cessna 172 — "the most popular plane in the world," according to Rich. He bought it in 1989 and has clocked 3,000 hours of flight. Does he have a name for the plane, the way people sometimes name their cars? "I call it The Blue Rocket, not because of its speed but after an old Harlem blues radio show." Rich doesn't have a television, but if he did, he would watch the Weather Channel religiously. From "up there," where "the air is rarified," and the telegraph poles are the size of matchsticks, he can fly around any weather system. "Weather is naturally dramatic," Rich says. — DL