Suggested Banner: A Veteran Returns
Never say you’ll never...Whatever. Circumstances alter cases, and
sometimes you’ll find yourself forced to engage in activity previously
proscribed. I, for instance, swore, upon my separation from U.S. Army service,
that I would never again sleep on the ground or eat while standing up. I
violated those tenets only because of
the necessities incurred at the Oshkosh airshow, where one must erect a tent
and camp under the airplane wing. Housing is unavailable for 40 miles around.
Likewise, when you read about someone smashing up a perfectly-good airplane because they ran it out of fuel, you’ll invariably say “I’d never do a dumb thing like that.” But, I’ll bet you’ve tried to stretch your gas supply once in a while, and stared at the gauge wondering if you would make it. You were just luckier than that other schmuck. Learn, and live.
Among the observed traffic movements at our airport this week, we
saw a Robinson R44 helicopter set down to refuel, fitted with a cropspraying
rig under its belly. The plastic tank and folded-away booms looked pretty
draggy to me, but the pilot said it didn’t slow him down all that much as he
traveled to his next job. An Italian-built Tecnam P-Mentor trainer came in from
New Century for a show-and-tell, and a Cessna 172 and a Piper Archer stopped
by. Bob Plunket flew over from Clinton in a Piper Cherokee, Ron Terwiliger
visited from Paola in his Cessna Skylane, Dave Gilsdorf was in from Lee’s
Summit in his Cessna Turbo Centurion and an RV-6A homebuilt made a brief stop.
Locally, Jeremie Platt exercised his Grumman Tiger, Jon Laughlin
flew his Piper Cherokee 180C, Layne Anderson brought his Darter Commander back
from the inspection shop, and the AirTractor sprayplanes had a busy time of it
fighting off fungus infections. I introduced a few newcomers to the wonders of
flight in a mighty Cessna 150.
In little-noticed news this week, we read that a certain Douglas
DC-3 cargo plane returned across the Atlantic this week, after participating in
the 80th Anniversary observances of the June 6, 1944 Invasion of
Normandy during WW-II. It was not just any old Doug; it was the restored actual
lead airplane of that famous day’s paratroop armada, named “That’s All,
Brother.” Then and now a C-47 transport, it’s a flying museum piece based in Texas.
Glad you made it, Veteran.
There were no takers for last week’s question about who had the most total flying time logged. It's generally accepted
that the title belongs to Captain Dick Merrill, who retired from Eastern
Airlines after 36,650 hours flying there, over 33 years. With current
regulatory restrictions, no one can ever equal that. But he previously flew the
Air Mail and served as a "Hump" pilot in World War II, so he actually
flew over 45,000 hours. For next time, what is a "Hump pilot?" You can
send your answers to [email protected].
