The Friendly Skies.
So my post yesterday about the visiting dignitaries got me to thinking. Not about the hapless Russians - they're on their own. But about the airport. It's existence was such a revelation because up until that moment it hadn't occurred to me that I haven't seen, or heard, an airplane in three months. The day I moved here, a crop duster buzzed the highway about 20 miles out of town (Bakersfield's version of the Welcome Wagon I suppose). But other than that... Nada.
Occasionally you can make out a jet, high above, cruising at 30,000 feet between better towns than this.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain. If you look out the left side of the aircraft you can see the city of Bakersfield... HAHAHAHAHA..."
So they have an airport here. How does that work? Departures I can understand - I wish I was on one everyday. But who in their right mind would fly here? Can you operate an airport on a "one-way" model? It must not get much use.
At any rate, there is no air traffic. None. Zero. The only thing man-made in the air here are the toxic pesticides.
In all my years in LA, I was always living on the approach to one airport or another. LAX, Burbank, Santa Monica, Van Nuys. Add in all the helicopters - police, fire, news and corporate and there was always a constant din overhead that you learn to just tune out like white noise. You really don't notice it until it's gone. Or in my case, until three months after your gone. I don't even think the police here have a helicopter, which is probably a good thing. If you watch the local news and see how often they crash, flip, wreck or plow their patrol cars into the local businesses I think we can agree it's best not to get them airborne.
So Bakersfield is deathly quiet, but I never made the airplane connection until now. And all in all I can't say that's a bad thing.
That's not to say I still wouldn't kill for a one-way ticket out of here.
