Thursday, June 17, 2010

Some Flying Adventures

Chuck soloed and got his pilot's license. He did not have an instrument rating so we flew only on clear days. The first time we planned to fly "home" to visit his folks and my Mom, we woke up on departure day to rain. So we waited until the rain stopped and the weather cleared - we were able to leave a day or so later. The flight to his folks took about 6 hours. Driving took considerably longer. One time we made the trip in 4.5 hours - great tail wind that day!

The charts pilots use are lots different than the maps we use when we drive. They show all kinds of landmarks from race tracks to the location of TV and radio towers. These landmarks help pilots with "I Follow the Roads" ratings to see where they are. There's one chart that shows a large letter "M" or "W" - I don't really remember what the letter is but it is in Wisconsin. More than once we circled water towers in different towns to check exactly where we were!

One time we took off to fly to Kansas. As we flew more and more clouds formed beneath us until we were on top of a cloud layer with no breaks where we could see the ground. It was disconcerting at the least and scary at the most! Chuck was very calm. He told me to mark off a segment on the chart every five minutes on our route. I did this for about twenty minutes or so. Then we saw a break in the clouds. We saw the northeastern corner of Kansas where the river cuts the corner. We were exactly where I had ploteed we would be! I was very proud of us!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Experimental Aircraft Association

We went to our first Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-in in Rockford, Illinois. The year was about 1965 so Patti and Tony were about 6 and 4. We continued attending the Fly-in in Rockford until the Experimental Aircraft Association moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Chuck joined the local EAA chapter and soon their monthly magazine arrived in our mailbox each month. A short time later Chuck began taking flying lessons.

We purchased a 1948 Stinson airplane. It was referred to as a "taildragger" because it had one small wheel in the back and one on each side under the wings. The Stinson had four seats and sometimes was called the Cadillac of small planes. Another featurr was a large tail that made landing in a crosswind rather "dicey."

The local EAA chapter often met in our home. It was an interesting group. One man built his own plane - an Emeraude. Planes like his were called "homebuilt" but not home made. There were several engineers, an optomitrist, a priest, some farmers, and a WWII vet or two.

We took in the weeklong EAA Fly-in annually camping in an alfalfa field near the airfield in Oshkosh. We cooked most of our meals in front of our tent. Chuck was always the breakfast cook. We got plenty of walking in each day just walking from where we were camped to the convention grounds. They also ran "shuttles" pulled by tractors and these were fun.

Interesting workshops were held during the day. Paul Harvey was the featured speaker in the evening one year. He used his amazing voice just like a musical instrument. Chuck attended some of the various workshops and we all attended the evening programs.

The War Birds of America flew each day about 4 p.m. These planes were refurbished war planes. There would be P-51s, Corsairs, a B-17, a B-29, a P-38 Lightning and probably some others I don't remember. Individual pilots also flew aerobatics in small planes designed for that. The Canadian Snowbirds performed there one year. This group is similar to the Blue Angels and the Thunderbird flight teams.

Jane, my sister-in-law, and I started volunteering, working the gate between where individual planes were parked and the convention grounds. It was very interesting and fun because both Jane and I love to "people watch."

We always enjoyed the afternoon airshows. Art Scholl flew his "Chipmunk" in the airshow. He was known for his "stunt" flying in movies. An old Ford Trimotor gave rides; one plane was sponsored by the Mennen company - and the smoke the pilot released smelled like Mennen's product while the smoke the other pilots released didn't smell nearly so nice!

North American Aviation's Bob Hoover flew a P-51 and also the company's Aero Commander Shrike. He always wore a suit and straw hat when he piloted either of those planes. He did the "Tennessee Waltz" - touching down first on one wheel and then the other. It was very impressive.

I took a workshop for spouses that taught us what we needed to know to land our plane if the pilot was incapacitated. I never had to do this, but I learned how and was confident that I could land the plane if necessary.