No matter what your work, remember to always do it with a smile.

I took this picture in June, 1988, on Kelly Air Force Base, in San Antonio, Texas. I was standing on the rental car's roof to keep the fence out ot the photo. This probably would not have been tolerated nowadays, but back then no one minded. Also, we were Second Lieutenants, the most irresponsible and immature of all officers, and were known to do silly things.

A few minutes later, one of these C-5 transports took off, and we positioned our car underneath the flight path to experience the takeoff of one of these monsters.

Years later, I would take the Noisykids down to the same base, park by the end of the runway, and watch the C-5's do 'touch and go' practices for hours. The noise restrictions are not as strict for military aircraft as they are for commercial aircraft.

Some flight surgeons I know told me that these 'touch and go' missions were the only way some would get their required hours of flight. They said it was awful, with the cabin dark - there are few windows in the top part of the aircraft - sitting backwards, with no air conditioning, and low altitude flying. Pass me an air sickness bag.

The aircraft seemed to like it, as you can see the first one in line is smiling.