![]() ![]() Nothing like a shot of adrenaline to liven up a dull morning. He said, “Heard what? I didn’t hear anything.” I said, “Yeah, that nothing is the noise I’m talking about.” Just then, the engine coughed for a few beats then a few more until finally it went quiet. I asked Mal on the intercom if he heard that. Suddenly, I thought I heard a skipped cylinder from the engine. Dot was in the back, reading a magazine, and we were just cruising along. I was pilot flying for this first leg, and all was going well. We had been flying for about two hours, which put us over the Allegheny Mountains-not too hospitable on the ground. I slept soundly that night, and we left early Monday morning in kind of an overcast day.īecause I wanted to keep both tanks as full as possible, our first fuel stop was planned for Binghamton Airport (KBGM) in New York. We spent Sunday replacing and testing the radio. Fortunately, one of the local pilots said he had a radio he could lend us for the trip. After we landed, I told our mechanic my problem. It was an emergency because I would not launch on this trip without both radios working. It was probably a good thing that we took that flight because later, when I radioed my landing intentions, my second radio was dead. It would include a stop at Manchester Airport (KMHT) in New Hampshire for the proverbial hundred-dollar hamburgers. Because it was early and a beautiful day, we asked if they would like to take a final sunset sightseeing trip before we left. ![]() Later that afternoon, my son Bill and daughter Sharon dropped by to see how we were doing. We spent Saturday packing clothes and thoroughly preflighting the airplane, cleaning, topping the gas tanks, double-checking our checklists, planning the flight route, etc. We were to be joined on the trip by Mal Bennert, a good friend of ours who was also a certificated pilot. The Oshkosh show was scheduled to start on July 31, so we started planning for our big adventure. We had the privilege of working with Burt for a few days. We planned on meeting them there to see how well the airplanes performed. There were three kits being built at Stow that would be flying to the Oshkosh show. Burt would occasionally visit some of the builders to help them assemble the kits. In July 1976 with my flight hours adding up, and my wanderlust afoot, I thought it might be fun to try a cross-country flight in my “Baby Airliner.” What better destination than a trip to Oshkosh for another air show? At that time, Burt Rutan was selling his VariEze homebuilt kits to builders around the country-a composite, canard, high-performance aircraft. My landings didn’t have to be precise at all, not after my Marlboro short-field training. ![]() A month later, I was reflecting on that decision as I was sitting in the left seat of my newly purchased 1958 Piper Comanche 250 at Minute Man Air Field (6B6) with its 2,700-foot runway in Stow. Then we had a serious discussion about flying, and I promised her that the one thing I would never do was buy an airplane.īesides, renting would be fine. After we got home, Dot and I held a proper champagne celebration. I finally earned my private pilot certificate on May 14, 1975. With its 1,659-foot runway bookended by extremely tall pine trees, there couldn’t be a better place to practice landings and takeoffs. After we resettled, I continued my flying lessons at Marlboro Airport (9B1). In December, with my consulting work finished, we moved back to Massachusetts. It would cost too much and take too much time.” So, there I was, two days later at Appleton International Airport (KATW) in the pilot’s seat of a vintage Cessna 150, clutching my student pilot certificate and taking my first flying lesson. We had a week we’d never forget.Īs we drove back home, I said to Dot, “It must be great to learn how to fly.” Dot said, “Why don’t you try it?” To which I replied, “No, I can’t. For many, arriving at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is a rite of passage, attending what becomes, for one week, the busiest airport in the world. Since serving in the Air Force during the Korean War, I have had a lifelong interest in flying, so I was excited to realize I would be only a short drive to the location of the upcoming 22nd Oshkosh Air Show, which was to start on August 2. Early in 1974, my wife, Dorothy, and I had just moved from our home in Massachusetts to Appleton, Wisconsin, for my new consulting job. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |