SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
PRATT, Kan. — A Kansas pilot turned the sky into a canvas for a high-flying proposal, using his flight path to spell out “Will you marry me, Taylor?”
The proposal took place Wednesday, April 9, above the skies near Pratt. Terry Williamson, a local pilot flying a Beech P35 Bonanza, mapped out the message in advance and then flew the route, which took just over two hours to complete.
“I have ForeFlight, which is an app with a scratch pad where you can draw over the map,” Williamson said. “I used that to sketch the message out on the ground first, practiced it several times, and then followed the route in the air. I thought it would take 45 minutes, but FlightAware says it took two hours and six minutes from takeoff to landing.”
The flight—and the effort—was worth it.
“She said yes,” Williamson said.
He said his fiancée was at work at the time, which helped keep the surprise intact.
“If I did it when she wasn’t working, she’d know where I was and it wouldn’t have been a surprise,” he said.
She discovered the proposal later that day after Williamson posted a link to the flight path on Facebook.