The Damned Flood

   
  
  
  
Remember your childhood backyard?  You knew where every tree was – the guava in the corner, the macopa near the poso, three kaimito dominating the center.  The dwarf lived under the culvert, and the sweetest aratilis grew over the neighbor’s wall.
  
  
  
  
Carlo and I learned to fly over Central Luzon.  In the lazy summer [...]

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Besieged at Baler

Even today, Baler remains besieged … by weather, mountains, the biggest ocean in the world.  But with weather wisdom, terrain awareness and the patience to turn back and try again another day, you can break the siege.
And remember, the Crispy Buntot is delicious.
 
  
  
  
   
There are three routes across the Sierra Madre mountains to Baler.
 
Short and Fast
Through the Bongabon-Baler pass.  Short [...]

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Isabela

The mountains, weather and routes at Baler were learning opportunities for us.  They stretched our wings, our decision-making and our experience base. 
More important, the Crispy Buntot is great!
 
  
  
  
Fast-forward seven months.  December, just after Christmas.  Carlo and I vegetated on the beach at Vigan, wondering where to fly next on our Yuletide flying holiday.

 
As a rippled sunset glowed over the South China Sea, we got a text [...]

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Baler!

The pilot who crosses the Sierra Madre range into the coastal plain at Baler Bay is well-rewarded with a stunning vista.  Baler is a beautiful place.  Sheltered by mountains, it is competitive and contemporary without losing its refreshingly rural identity.
  
   
   
  
  
  
  
    
    
                                
                       
      

  
  
  
  
 
 
  
        
    
   
     
   
   
  
    
  
Carlo and I made it to Baler for the first time in May, 2008.  I can’t recall how we crossed the mountains, but it must [...]

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The Continuing Perils of Flying with Mom

I first learned of Baler from the former General Manager at Omni Aviation, Aljess, now a big jet pilot for Philippine Airlines.
He had pictures of a rugged coastline and a small inland airport.  And stories of crab, seafood and surfers.
   
   
     
     
You would think that my Mom, in her 80s, would be fearful of flying.  But she has [...]

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Houston, We Have Reached Orbit

Easter.  Hot, blistering day.  The kind of scorching Luzon summer day where the air shimmers incandescently over parched brown fields.  It’s so hot that the shade in the tree line feels like airconditioning.
  
  
Baguio, 5,000 feet up in the Cordilleras, is an hour away by Cessna 152.  Too hot to plan or pack for that.  Still, staying indoors in frigid airconditioning misses the entire [...]

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A Three Hour Tour, A Three Hour Tour

There are actually 124 islets (one less at high tide).  Long associated with Alaminos, Pangasinan, the Hundred Islands are actually reached by boat from the coastal town of Lucap.
You can also fly over them.    
  
  
  
    
After our flight over the Hermana Sisters, we went feet dry near the beach resorts at Tambobong, [...]

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Mount Pinatubo, Zambales

Every year at Christmas, Carlo and Tonet fly an aerial odyssey.  From December 23 to January 4  they did 1,600 nautical miles in 9 days, logging over 20 flight hours.  Not bad for a Cessna 152. 
They took hundreds of pictures.  Thumbnails are click-able.  Photos are copyrighted.
On December 27 Carlo and Tonet sat in the airplane, ready for engine start, flight planned for Baguio, in the [...]

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Above Central Luzon in a Flying Soda Can

Last June 6th we wrote about touring Nueva Ecija in a flying soda can – a mysterious lake and a World War II airstrip.  Earlier, we shared pictures and stories flying over northern Pangasinan — Lingayen Gulf, the Hundred Islands, and the power plant attacked by the killer salabay.
We now tour Central Luzon, best seen low and slow.  Our ‘backyard’ is big enough to play in, small enough so that [...]

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The Great Raid

In January 1945 a company of 120 American Rangers and Alamo Scouts sneaked across the Central Luzon plain and slipped behind enemy lines for 48 hours.  
They attacked the Cabanatuan prison camp and liberated 511 American prisoners of war.  The prisoners were survivors of the Bataan and Corregidor siege in 1942, and had been beaten and starved for 3 years.
Only [...]

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Aerial Voyeurism

Our last Adventure article introduced a visual treat — touring Central Luzon in a flying soda can. We continue our aerial Backyard Tour.  An emergency airstrip, and a mysterious lake. 
  
  
East of Lingayen Gulf are the Cordilleras, and the Cordillera Autonomous Region.  Baguio, Sagada, and Banaue all lie in that direction, as does the highest peak in Luzon, Mt. Pulog. 
The Bued [...]

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