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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Tuesday, October 26, 2004 Not again, not again . . . Bull Mountain has claimed another plane, and tragedy has struck the NASCAR racing family again. Back from a long training weekend in Washington DC, I stopped at the hospital in Christiansburg where Clarence was again ensconced, and learned that ten members of the Hendrick racing team had been killed in a plane crash on Bull Mountain. Bull Mountain is a long ridge with a steep face looking east, about 3300 feet above sea level. I can see it in the winter, when the leaves are off the trees, from Clarence's front yard. The western side of Bull Mountain, opposite from where the plane crashed, has a few county-maintained gravel roads, and more that are just long private driveways, leading to homes on the rugged slopes. The peak of the mountain, however, is accessible only by ATV or on foot, from a muddy dirt road that winds up the side through real-estate signs advertising lots for sale. [Correction -- I've been told by a local resident that it is possible to reach the top with a 4WD vehicle, and that I should have said '4WD or ATV' rather than 'ATV or on foot.'] The steep eastern face has no roads at all. It dominates the skyline in this part of the county, like the long shoulder ridge of some vast half-buried animal. I used to wish I could see the mountain all year round, but I don't look at it without a shudder now. On Sunday morning, after a cold damp Saturday, fog covered the slopes nearly halfway to the ground, and a pilot coming in to Blue Ridge Airport in Spencer, less than ten miles away, would have had to make an instrument approach. There was so much traffic at Blue Ridge, the closest airport to the Martinsville Speedway, that the FAA in Greensboro was giving the pilots "alternate missed approaches." What that means is that every other plane that wanted to land was being waved off and told to go around a second time, in order for the previous plane to get itself safely on the ground and get out of the way of the next one. This is standard procedure for handling a heavy-traffic private aviation situation. Commerical pilots can be ordered to stack up in layers over an airport if landing conditions are less than ideal, but private pilots are not always sufficiently skilled at maintaining altitude for that to be a safe procedure, and sometimes don't have enough fuel for a protracted wait. But anyone with a pilot's license will have practiced missed approaches, sometimes without the intention of doing so. So it's a safe way to manage unusually heavy traffic at a private-aviation field. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the Hendrick plane either went off course, or didn't stay high enough to miss Bull Mountain. It crashed on the eastern face, burst into flames, and fell in pieces down the steep slope, in terrain so rugged that it took hours for the first rescuers to reach the site. I've done computer work for one of the racing teams, but didn't know any of the Hendrick family. So it's not as personal a loss as it might have been. Yet this is NASCAR country. Everyone knows, or is related to, someone involved in racing. NASCAR began here and grew to a national sport right here in this part of the Appalachians, and we take it seriously. It's no accident that the first and still primary NASCAR tracks were in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Bristol, Martinsville--this is the cradle of stock-car racing. We're all the poorer today, and we grieve with and pray for the Hendrick family and racing team. posted by Liz @ 1:35 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Bull Mountain has claimed another plane, and tragedy has struck the NASCAR racing family again. Back from a long training weekend in Washington DC, I stopped at the hospital in Christiansburg where Clarence was again ensconced, and learned that ten members of the Hendrick racing team had been killed in a plane crash on Bull Mountain. Bull Mountain is a long ridge with a steep face looking east, about 3300 feet above sea level. I can see it in the winter, when the leaves are off the trees, from Clarence's front yard. The western side of Bull Mountain, opposite from where the plane crashed, has a few county-maintained gravel roads, and more that are just long private driveways, leading to homes on the rugged slopes. The peak of the mountain, however, is accessible only by ATV or on foot, from a muddy dirt road that winds up the side through real-estate signs advertising lots for sale. [Correction -- I've been told by a local resident that it is possible to reach the top with a 4WD vehicle, and that I should have said '4WD or ATV' rather than 'ATV or on foot.'] The steep eastern face has no roads at all. It dominates the skyline in this part of the county, like the long shoulder ridge of some vast half-buried animal. I used to wish I could see the mountain all year round, but I don't look at it without a shudder now. On Sunday morning, after a cold damp Saturday, fog covered the slopes nearly halfway to the ground, and a pilot coming in to Blue Ridge Airport in Spencer, less than ten miles away, would have had to make an instrument approach. There was so much traffic at Blue Ridge, the closest airport to the Martinsville Speedway, that the FAA in Greensboro was giving the pilots "alternate missed approaches." What that means is that every other plane that wanted to land was being waved off and told to go around a second time, in order for the previous plane to get itself safely on the ground and get out of the way of the next one. This is standard procedure for handling a heavy-traffic private aviation situation. Commerical pilots can be ordered to stack up in layers over an airport if landing conditions are less than ideal, but private pilots are not always sufficiently skilled at maintaining altitude for that to be a safe procedure, and sometimes don't have enough fuel for a protracted wait. But anyone with a pilot's license will have practiced missed approaches, sometimes without the intention of doing so. So it's a safe way to manage unusually heavy traffic at a private-aviation field. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the Hendrick plane either went off course, or didn't stay high enough to miss Bull Mountain. It crashed on the eastern face, burst into flames, and fell in pieces down the steep slope, in terrain so rugged that it took hours for the first rescuers to reach the site. I've done computer work for one of the racing teams, but didn't know any of the Hendrick family. So it's not as personal a loss as it might have been. Yet this is NASCAR country. Everyone knows, or is related to, someone involved in racing. NASCAR began here and grew to a national sport right here in this part of the Appalachians, and we take it seriously. It's no accident that the first and still primary NASCAR tracks were in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Bristol, Martinsville--this is the cradle of stock-car racing. We're all the poorer today, and we grieve with and pray for the Hendrick family and racing team.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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