(T.I. Martin Field in Culpeper. Image courtesy wikipedia).

Hey- it is ‘Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited’ to the waning moon at the farm this morning- and a little colder than the Standard Day. If we were going flying out of T.I. Martin Field today, we would have nice dense, still air and plenty of lift.

“Standard day” is the term used to forecast the weather and fly airplanes. Techincally, it has something to do with “Lifties” and “thrusties,” or something. The warmer the air, the less dense it is. More density give greater lift from the elegant flow of the air over the wing’s graceful curve.

I was thinking about the standard day and how it differs between the city and the country. Naturally, Washington’s Standard Day has less lift in it due to the hot air it spews. Regardless of where I am, the morning back-and-forth in the email stream deals with the same issues. This morning there was an analysis of the impact of Mr. John Podesta’s return to the White House, and the ability of the new commentator on Fox News, Ms Lea Gabrielle, to land F-18 Hornets on aircraft carriers.

That naturally led to some dissections of the officer corps, and a side conversation on Great Leadership we have seen over the last few decades- I am not going to mention who they are, but there was general agreement that some should have been court marshaled. It was a Standard Day on the Internet, but the natural world calls out here at the farm.

Just before dusk I saw at least three of the local deer- a yearling and two others that stayed back in the woods had survived the season to gambol through the winter. Good news, generally,

The thermometers in the front yard and out the kitchen window were in general agreement that it would be chilly but stay above freezing. When I was briefly awake at 0230, I noted we had received a dusting of snow on the porch, but it was gone by the time daylight swept up the pastures and poured into the windows.

At T. I. Martin Field, seven miles north of downtown Culpeper, the standard day is defined by the altimeter setting at sea level at 29.92 at 59 degrees F. With the temperature likely to be fifteen degrees below that, conditions are excellent to get larger aircraft with greater payloads in and out of the field. There is talk about adding a new terminal to the flight line and upgrading the facility, which is known to the FAA as “CJR.”

The International Air Transport Association has not thus far deigned to give us a letter designation, but we have hopes.

Culpeper Mayor T. Irving Martin was the visionary who decided to move the local airstrip from south of town (across from the Best Western motel at the junction of Business 29 and the through road south) to the location at the edge of the Brandy Station battlefield. The runway originally measured 3200 ft. by 75 ft., but that wasn’t enough. In 1983, the year before T. I’s grandson joined the city council, the runway was lengthened to 4000 ft. In 2004, the runway was expanded to 5000 ft. by 100 ft. It can handle corporate size jets and large twin-engine aircraft.

I wish I had a corporate jet to get down here on the weekends. Maybe that will be Socotra House’s first major acquisition when we hit the lottery. T.I.’s grandson’s career expanded like the airport, rising to become Vice Mayor until that unfortunate misunderstanding about the insurance fraud thing came to light. In some ways, the standard day in the country is not that different than the Big City.

There have been other definitions of the standard day in this now-placid place. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had gone to winter quarters here after their victory at Chancellorsville a couple dozen miles down Rt 3, then known as the Germana Highway. Longstreet’s Corps was bivouacked here on the farm lane under Mt. Pony, with JEB Stuart’s Calvary placed as a blocking force at Fleetwood Hill north of Town.

T. I. Martin Field is where Pleasanton’s Union Calvary, 11,000 strong, swept forward from Beverley and Kelly’s Forfs across the Rappahannock River in a pincer movement to squeeze Stuart, not knowing he was covering the bulk of Lee’s Army. They went back and forth over the hill a dozen times in the largest cavalry battle ever fought in North America.

That was a tipping point no one recognized on that standard Civil War Day, but the bold Confederate cavaliers would never again over-awe the Union horsemen, and from this winter camp in Culpeper, Lee rode north that summer to a place called Gettysburg.

So, away from the standard hot air in Washington, it is useful to remember that times have been both better and worse, just like the climate.

I note that it is afternoon now, and this is thoroughly un-standard, with the NFL conference championships happening this afternoon. That will require some serious couch time, a decent single malt scotch and some total disengagement.

Accordingly, I need to get to Target and disclose my personal credit information to some 17 year old in Russia along with some supplies necessary complete a couple projects around the farmhouse on this thoroughly standard day in Culpeper.

(Overview of the Battle of Brandy Station. I am sitting in the circle around Longstreet’s position to the lower left.)
Confederate
Union

Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303