- Joined
- Feb 16, 2021
- Messages
- 1
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- 34
The lore of flight has always been a strong compelling force which has been the compass in my life.
Long before there were laws restricting access to the cockpit in flight, I would sometimes get lucky enough to accompany my father, who was an airline captain, on a flight. I remember so well the smell of the aircraft as I entered the cockpit. It was from a combination of materials all mixed together: the leather seats, hydraulic fluid, aviation gas and numerous other ingredients and sometimes a whiff of perfume from one of the passing stewardess. For me it was like an elixir.
Next came the starting of the big radial engines and this was like watching a well orchestrated ballet unlike today when one switch does it all on a turbojet. Once airborne, watching all the little whizzes on the instrument panel kept me occupied throughout the flight; only to ask the occasional question.
By the age of 15, I was starting flight training in a Aeronca 7AC Champ which sported a 65HP engine. This was just enough power to get the airplane, my instructor and me into the air with not much left over. The little ship was equipped with an airspeed indicator, needle ball and turn indicator and a whiskey compass, which didn’t read correctly due to the lack of whiskey.
Navigation was accomplished by purchasing a Texaco automobile road map for 35 cents which showed all the roads and towns. If by some chance your aircraft got lost, the pilot would simply descend to around 50 feet and read the name of the town on its water tower; then climb back to 500 feet and continue this process until reaching the destination.
Additionally, the Texaco maps had wonderfully colored the States e.g., Texas was brown, Oklahoma was yellow, Louisiana green and so on. Therefore, if you were flying in Texas and suddenly the ground went from brown to yellow on your map, you had crossed the state line and were now in Oklahoma. Really? At least this is the way I remember how it worked; but then, that was a long time ago.
In the years that followed I was fortunate to fly many exciting aircraft like the Stearman and the iconic DC-3, piston fighters and a few that were capable of easily exceeding Mach 1. However, the greater part of my flying has been at high altitude in Boeing and Douglas machines. Earnest K. Gann described this type of flying best by stating,” It is hours and hours of tedium punctuated by moments of stark terror”. He described it accurately.
More recently, while at a warbird overhaul facility one afternoon, a colleague mentioned that a flight school on the airport was looking for flight instructors. I was soon introduced to the chief pilot who perused my hastily prepared and rather pathetic resume with a look that can’t be described here.
Fortunately, he was a compassionate guy and we quickly found common ground and ascertained that our backgrounds in flying were similar. And, we shared some common conceptions about flight training. He then decided to put me into the capable hands of one of the instructors who were going to “standardize” me. He was fantastic, but then he asked about my recent experience in performing maneuvers like lazy eights . I explained that I always like this exercise but apologized for my lack of currency because, while flying over Iraq at FL350, practicing this maneuver was discouraged. My instructor graciously overlooked this detail and began to show me how to fly things like a square traffic pattern and then introduced me to a fiendish device called a Garmin 1000.
I was happy to report to the chief pilot at the last instructors meeting that I had made great progress in understanding the Garmin 1000 and I could now successfully turn it ‘ON” and “OFF” with without additional assistance. After relating this success to him, he stared at the ceiling for several minutes before saying that he was glad I was making such significant progress.
I have found that the basics of flying an aircraft are the same for any model or type. The difference is how much you have to push or pull or use a combination of these efforts to achieve the required result. These are the same principles that apply to everyday life and I see them exemplified daily. I can’t help but believe that those of us who are lucky enough to be a part of the aviation community don’t walk down the street feeling just a few inches above everyone else. Not that we are better, but we just have the opportunity to experience sights, sounds and sensations that no earth bound person shall ever know.
I will never forget the overwhelming astonishment I felt when crossing the Northern coast of Africa and I saw the Southern Cross for the first time. Damn, I thought, it really exists and it is fantastic! I have had many more such experiences as I am sure you will too in your aviation career. It is therefore that I wish all of you tailwinds always, and remember to keep the blue side up!
LET’S FLY! Eggplantwalking
Long before there were laws restricting access to the cockpit in flight, I would sometimes get lucky enough to accompany my father, who was an airline captain, on a flight. I remember so well the smell of the aircraft as I entered the cockpit. It was from a combination of materials all mixed together: the leather seats, hydraulic fluid, aviation gas and numerous other ingredients and sometimes a whiff of perfume from one of the passing stewardess. For me it was like an elixir.
Next came the starting of the big radial engines and this was like watching a well orchestrated ballet unlike today when one switch does it all on a turbojet. Once airborne, watching all the little whizzes on the instrument panel kept me occupied throughout the flight; only to ask the occasional question.
By the age of 15, I was starting flight training in a Aeronca 7AC Champ which sported a 65HP engine. This was just enough power to get the airplane, my instructor and me into the air with not much left over. The little ship was equipped with an airspeed indicator, needle ball and turn indicator and a whiskey compass, which didn’t read correctly due to the lack of whiskey.
Navigation was accomplished by purchasing a Texaco automobile road map for 35 cents which showed all the roads and towns. If by some chance your aircraft got lost, the pilot would simply descend to around 50 feet and read the name of the town on its water tower; then climb back to 500 feet and continue this process until reaching the destination.
Additionally, the Texaco maps had wonderfully colored the States e.g., Texas was brown, Oklahoma was yellow, Louisiana green and so on. Therefore, if you were flying in Texas and suddenly the ground went from brown to yellow on your map, you had crossed the state line and were now in Oklahoma. Really? At least this is the way I remember how it worked; but then, that was a long time ago.
In the years that followed I was fortunate to fly many exciting aircraft like the Stearman and the iconic DC-3, piston fighters and a few that were capable of easily exceeding Mach 1. However, the greater part of my flying has been at high altitude in Boeing and Douglas machines. Earnest K. Gann described this type of flying best by stating,” It is hours and hours of tedium punctuated by moments of stark terror”. He described it accurately.
More recently, while at a warbird overhaul facility one afternoon, a colleague mentioned that a flight school on the airport was looking for flight instructors. I was soon introduced to the chief pilot who perused my hastily prepared and rather pathetic resume with a look that can’t be described here.
Fortunately, he was a compassionate guy and we quickly found common ground and ascertained that our backgrounds in flying were similar. And, we shared some common conceptions about flight training. He then decided to put me into the capable hands of one of the instructors who were going to “standardize” me. He was fantastic, but then he asked about my recent experience in performing maneuvers like lazy eights . I explained that I always like this exercise but apologized for my lack of currency because, while flying over Iraq at FL350, practicing this maneuver was discouraged. My instructor graciously overlooked this detail and began to show me how to fly things like a square traffic pattern and then introduced me to a fiendish device called a Garmin 1000.
I was happy to report to the chief pilot at the last instructors meeting that I had made great progress in understanding the Garmin 1000 and I could now successfully turn it ‘ON” and “OFF” with without additional assistance. After relating this success to him, he stared at the ceiling for several minutes before saying that he was glad I was making such significant progress.
I have found that the basics of flying an aircraft are the same for any model or type. The difference is how much you have to push or pull or use a combination of these efforts to achieve the required result. These are the same principles that apply to everyday life and I see them exemplified daily. I can’t help but believe that those of us who are lucky enough to be a part of the aviation community don’t walk down the street feeling just a few inches above everyone else. Not that we are better, but we just have the opportunity to experience sights, sounds and sensations that no earth bound person shall ever know.
I will never forget the overwhelming astonishment I felt when crossing the Northern coast of Africa and I saw the Southern Cross for the first time. Damn, I thought, it really exists and it is fantastic! I have had many more such experiences as I am sure you will too in your aviation career. It is therefore that I wish all of you tailwinds always, and remember to keep the blue side up!
LET’S FLY! Eggplantwalking
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