{"id":16601,"date":"2019-08-28T17:18:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T21:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=16601"},"modified":"2020-04-30T11:11:56","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T15:11:56","slug":"under-the-radar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/under-the-radar\/","title":{"rendered":"Under the Radar"},"content":{"rendered":"

H<\/span>ere\u2019s a mystery. Ever wonder why George W. Bush (\u201c43\u201d) isn\u2019t set upon by local reporters for quotes about the world situation whenever he flies into Portland International Jetport on his way to Walker\u2019s Point in Kennebunkport?<\/span><\/p>\n

He lands somewhere else, very quietly. <\/span><\/p>\n

We realize this while lunching on a shrimp po boy and a lobster roll in Pilots Cove Cafe at Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport. The reggae in this new bistro is breezy. Sam Adams umbrellas flutter at tables outside. We see a gorgeous $65M Gulf Stream 6 taxi by, call sign N313RG. An executive jet like this comes with Rolls Royce engines and 22 seats.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s flying in that?\u201d we ask Taylor, our server. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne moment,\u201d Taylor says. She disappears into the kitchen and returns. \u201cIt\u2019s the Bushes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhich Bush?\u201d Maine is still on edge, missing the late George H. W. Bush (\u201c41\u201d) and Barbara Bush. We\u2019ve never experienced a summer up here without the vague sense of them enjoying it with us, too. Until now. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s George W. Bush and family. I\u2019m told they fly in and out of here all the time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s an invisible Maine, where the elite slip in and out without our knowing it. The Sanford airport dates to the early 1930s, a private strip created for the pleasure of Goodall mills, creators of Palm Beach clothing. The U.S. Navy expanded it into an auxiliary Navy airfield in 1942-43. During the next two years, they trained British naval aviators to fly Vought F4U Corsair fighters here (sending them back to England with the planes they\u2019d trained in)\u2013even painting a mock carrier deck with arresting gear, according to seacoastonline.com. That\u2019s why one of Sanford\u2019s runways is 150 feet wide\u2013far wider than the smaller aircraft that frequent it today require. This place is dear to me because it\u2019s where I learned to fly at 21. (I still remember making a bad cross-wind correction and skittering off <\/i>the huge runway, causing the rescue truck to rush to my side, siren screaming.) What a sweet spot, with Mt. Agamenticus guarding over the airstrip and, when you\u2019re in the flight pattern, views that roll out to the sea and the white-sand beaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not that all Maine mysteries can be solved. Here\u2019s my next one: How is it that a hot-dog bun\u2013if you put lobster in it and raise the price to $24\u2013turns into a roll in front of your very eyes? Who\u2019s getting rolled here? Here\u2019s to our state\u2019s nuances, our invisibilities, our slights (or flights) of mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Click here to\u00a0view past\u00a0Letters from the Editor.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[219,323,160,441],"class_list":["post-16601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editor","tag-colin-sargent","tag-portland-magazine","tag-portland-maine","tag-portland-monthly-magazine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16601"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18507,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16601\/revisions\/18507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}