If you look in Webster’s dictionary for the word “stable” you will find it is a building where livestock, especially horses, are kept. Although this is one definition for stable, there are other meanings that can relate to our everyday lives.
If you check “stable” as it refers to aircraft, you will find that it is a flight dynamic; a study of dynamics of flight through the air. With the knowledge of these dynamics, engineers can design an airplane that is capable of flying through the air.
Every airplane is designed to perform certain tasks. For instance, an Airforce C5 can carry three Abrams tanks, weighing 67.6 tons each, across the Atlantic Ocean; while a Piper Club is designed to carry two people for a rather short distance. The amazing thing is that the same basis aerodynamics applies to both aircraft.
As a pilot, I have experienced the reaction of aircraft to stable and unstable air. Different designs are able to withstand greater cross winds and gusts, however, general aviation aircraft have similar limitations concerning unstable winds.
The real factor, in any aircraft, is the ability of the pilot. Whether it is a C5 or a Piper Club, the pilot must react to the winds to keep the plane in the air. When in stable air the flight is very smooth and the plane is easily handled, but in unstable air, you can have a bumpy ride and a challenge when landing. I have been flying since 1982 and I have learned that there are as many, if not more, flights in unstable winds, as those in stable winds.
If you are going to fly an airplane you must learn, through instruction, to fly in winds and gusting winds because it is not always going to be smooth.
We are all piloting, so to speak, through life. We will have times that are smooth and we will have just as many rough times. If we do not know how to handle the rough times we will lose control and possibly crash and burn. Is there a source available to us that will give us the instruction we need to handle the rough and gusting winds of adversity that we inevitably will have to deal with?
These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington High School Library for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begin at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 W. Court St. in Washington C.H.
