As he soars above the clouds, Wayne looks out the cockpit window.  He sees the clouds fading as the plane climbs to cruising altitude.  The plane's engines vibrated the plane but nothing out of the ordinary.  The bright sun shines through the window, bathing the newly washed aircraft and showing the imperfections of the paint.  The wind just gently touches the plane as they bounce lightly.  

Those gentle bumps for his aircraft lead to hell on my aircraft.  The clouds are the limits for me.  The sun shines through the clouds and then through my window.  The filtered sunlight still is blinding but not enough to blend everything together.  The paint imperfections are hidden.  The bugs on the windshield make seeing another plane harder while we fly into the sun.  The wind beats the aircraft up as I try to handle the plane.

Preflights on the C130 for Wayne were easy.  Done in 15 minutes, done before the pilots could take their final sip of coffee before the birds can wake up.  He knew the list like the back of his hand.  

The list is still new, I have flown for over 40 hours.  I still have to use the checklist but can get it done quickly.  Standing on the ramp, you can feel the breeze, feel the sun beating down on you, and the temperature of the air. 

As the effects of nature have art vastly different for each experience.  It still had an effect on both of us, little compared to big.  It would always make us wonder how and why nature acts the way it does.  We knew why it would affect the aircraft differently but why would a bird fly by aircraft, why would a turkey cross the runway in front of a plane that is rolling down a runway, we will never know because that is nature.

There have been little run-ins with animals but it has happened.  Wayne was departing to go to Germany and a bird flew in front of the aircraft right at the decision speed.  The bird hit the window and cracked the window and the plane had to abort and take off.  The glass did not shatter but the plane was grounded for four hours as the windshield was replaced, he sat there and made sure the windshield was put in right.  Once it was completed, they did the take-off again and made it out with no problems.

As I flew one day with my instructor in West Bend, I just landed the plane, and my instructor and I were on our ground roll just about to add take-off power when I picked up on a turkey entering the runway, no time to stop, no time to throttle up and fly, we just had to turn the plane to the right and pray the turkey did not turn to come back.  We passed the turkey with about three feet of space between our wheel and the turkey.  The closest I have come to hitting something