It was a dark and stormy night in late October. George, one of five partners in our Warrior, and I were completing the last leg of a three-segment flight. Our purpose, other than practice and fun, was to test out our brand-new yoke-mounted Trimble GPS that we had just acquired. The GPS was replacing a tired and totally unreliable Loran C that we had installed years earlier. We had chosen three airports spaced in a triangle about 100 miles apart to give us a good test of its capabilities. So far the Trimble had been spot on, shepherding us from airport to airport. This was a far cry from the loran, which would display inaccuracies of up to 20 miles. George and I had talked the other partners into spending $2,000 for the new GPS, and at this point we were feeling pretty good about our decision.
The first two legs had been smooth as silk and the weather had cooperated, giving us cloudy but otherwise fair skies. However, on this segment we were encountering darkness, lowering cloud, the odd bit of fog and occasional light rain that would pepper our windshield. Still, with nearly 50 years and 2,000 hours of flying time between us, we felt comfortable and very confident in our ability to complete a safe flight. Cocooned in our David Clarks we talked casually over the intercom about a number of subjects, including the capabilities and features of our new acquisition. We were also getting very comfortable in the operation of our new GPS. Below us widely scattered lights from the farmhouses flickered as small areas of fog and haze passed. Other than the steady drone of the engine, it was unusually quiet with very little radio traffic. As the flying pilot I had just informed George that we were within 20 miles of Peterborough, our destination airfield.
