The recent tornado in Ijamsville inspired ideas to write about. One reader commented to me about how an aerial photo of tornado damage showing the line of destruction in a grove of trees leading to a destroyed barn in the background was very graphic and told the story. --

Maybe related to this, Jill Tallman, who works at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association headquarters in Frederick , called me Tuesday to get some information for a story on taking aerial photos with pilot Ted Gregory, chief financial officer of The Frederick News-Post, from his vintage Luscombe airplane.

Gregory is a part owner of a Luscombe single-engine aircraft from the 1940s. When coverage of an event can benefit by getting aerial photos, we ask Gregory if he and his airplane are available. --

Sometimes Gregory is available, and sometimes he's not. If he's not, we then decide if we need to hire a helicopter from Advanced Helicopter Concepts in Frederick . The recent helicopter crash hit home with us since we know these people from many years of flying with them.

Lately, Gregory has been available on short notice. We recently flew over the Adamstown gas line leak July 20 and the Ijamsville tornado damage area July 31. We can be in the air about 30 minutes after deciding conditions are safe to fly.

Gregory has modified the Luscombe with a special rod to keep the passenger window open for shooting photographs. The rod replaces a metal bracket that is the opening and closing mechanism for the window. The Luscombe can fly relatively slowly, which is good for photography, but we're still flying between 80 and 100 mph. --

After flying together quite a bit, I think Gregory and I have become pretty good at lining up photo runs.

Any of you who have flown in a small aircraft know it's a very noisy environment. Although Gregory and I normally communicate with microphones and headsets, the wind blast from having the passenger window blocked open constantly breaks the squelch on my microphone so we can hear only the loud rush of wind. So while taking photos I'll swing my microphone up over my head to get it out of the wind. Since this means I can't use my microphone I'll use hand signals to communicate.

While in the air we both try to keep a constant watch for other aircraft in the area. While flying over the Antietam Center fire in February 2007 we shared airspace with a number of news helicopters also covering the fire. Gregory got on the radio and made contact with the helicopters so we could communicate our intentions and flight path. The very last thing we want is to come close to the recent midair collision of a small airplane and a helicopter in New York City over the Hudson River.

Tallman told me her story on Gregory, the Luscombe, and our photo flights will be on the AOPA website at www.aopa.org by the time this is published.

Part of the story is an aerial photo I took of the Luscombe in the air. I happened to be taking an aerial photo of students and staff at Ballenger Creek Middle School with a pilot who is the husband of one of the staff there. As we were returning to the airport I heard over the radio that the Luscombe was also in the air.

We contacted the Luscombe's pilot -- not Gregory but another of its owners -- and the pilot agreed to fly in formation with us so I could take photos of the airplane I usually see only from the inside.

The Luscombe is a two-seater high-wing plane that is relatively small and cramped in the cockpit. It's so small (or I'm so big) that I can't wear my photo vest in it.