I remember reading a story last year during the annual fires that seem to rage uncontrolled through the forests out west.

One national magazine sent a photographer to take some pictures of the devastation. He was told to go to a certain small airport where a plane would be waiting for him.

When the photographer arrived at the airport he found a plane with engine idling waiting for him on the runway as promised. Hopping into the front seat of the two-seated plane the photographer told the pilot, “Ok, let’s go.”

Once they were airborne the photographer told the pilot, “Now, I want you to fly over the north front of the fire and make 3-4 low-level passes.”

The pilot looked at the photographer and asked “why?”

To which the photographer responded “because I want to get some close-up shots of the fire.”

With a “deer-in-the-headlights look” the man in the pilot’s seat said “you mean you’re not the instructor?”

Assumptions can be very dangerous!

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