May 12, 2020 Common Sense

The Liberty Gazette

May 12, 2020

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Browsing the online bookstore Zubal Books as I occasionally do, I came across a rare opportunity to purchase a copy of Thomas Paine’s anonymously published “Common Sense,” described as: “addressed to the Inhabitants of America, On the following interesting subjects. I. Of the Origin and Design of Government in general, with concise Remarks on the English Constitution. II. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession. III. Thoughts on the present state of American Affairs. IV. Of the present Ability of America; with some miscellaneous Reflections.”

This is a scarce Norwich printing from 1776. It’s 56 pages, and the condition is described as general toning with age staining throughout, a light damp stain near the center of title leaf and the verso has ink signatures of two previous owners, one modern and the other in an old hand. The book is untrimmed and string-tied in self-wrappers.

What’s that got to do with aviation? Probably nothing, but it got me thinking how badly this country needs some common sense. In every corner of the nation. The opinions I express here are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Liberty Gazette, its owner, staff, advertisers, or other columnists. Whether a person agrees or disagrees with me is immaterial to me on this matter.

I’m willing to forgive the mistakes that come from not knowing, but it’s time we get back to life. It’s time we accept that with life comes death. Our economy is dying and could ruin more lives than the virus. We must be responsible and accept the risks that we cannot escape, because “escape” is a damaging hallucination. People at high risk know they are at high risk and can take precautions. Low risk people must get back to work, open the shops and carry the burden of getting our country’s economic health back. The longer we cower, the longer it will take us to stand up straight, and the longer we will be crippled.

Before all this started, we had dropped off the Elyminator at an avionics shop for some significant upgrades. With new, state-of-the-art navigation equipment, we’d bring our old 1979 Grumman Cheetah into today’s world with amazing digital displays containing every bit of available information: terrain, obstacles, airports, waypoints, routes, departures, arrivals, approaches, runways, traffic patterns, weather, traffic in the air, radio frequencies, and so much more at our fingertips.

Two months later, we picked up the airplane and flew it back home and started the month of May the right way—flying. Despite having no destination because nothing was open yet, we practiced using our shiny new instruments, flew approaches to airports in Liberty, Jefferson, and Chambers counties and said a word of “Thanks” for the freedom to fly.

Time will judge how we as a country reacted to the pandemic. Hindsight will reveal our measure of rationality, prudence, and wisdom. Meanwhile, despite layoffs in the aviation industry, we’re grateful to have wings of our own, and, as we see it, common sense.

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