I was introduced to flying at a somewhat young age I believe I was 12 the first time I went up. It was a cessna 175 that my friends dad owned. we took off and he flew around for awhile and then asked me if I wanted to fly (are you kidding me YES!) so I took over the controls and did what I was told to do, to find my house.
Well what I thought would be easy, wasn't! But I finally found it, so we buzzed by my parents as they were outside and then went back and landed.
Well I loved it so much that my friends dad decided he would teach us to fly! (I still believe he used it for an excuse to be in his plane) So we went thru the whole routine; Takeoffs, Landings, 20 min. turns, Stalls you name it we did it.
We ended up with all of our training and groundschool done, but had to wait until we turned 16 to be able to solo! But, by that time, wellllll our intrests had changed just a little bit...CARS...GIRLS so we never did follow thru with it.
I had another friends dad that was a crop duster flew an old Stearman bi-wing you know an old barn storming type of plane. Well he had a leak in the tank and needed someone small enought to fit in the tank to fix it and me being a small person at the time got the job.
Well to make a long story short after I finished he asked if I wanted to go up for a short flight. Sure I did but there is one small problem!
Only one seat! Where the front seat used to be, was now the tank!
So I pointed that out to him and he said no problem just stay in the tank. So off we went ,and what a ride! He took me out to a field and showed me what it was like to crop dust!! All I can say is WOW!
I also used to help them mix loads to spray the fields with. So, one time he called and asked if I could help him. I showed up at the airport just out of town and he had the plane sitting outside the hanger but there were no chemicals set out to mix. So being a little curious I asked him what was up? Were we not going to spray today? His reply was yes we are, but it was going to be at a town that was 30 miles away!
Well why didn't he tell me so I could of met him there!!!
So I asked him that, and his response was that I was going to fly on the plane with him!!!
Ok, but the tank was sealed shut, so where was I going to ride?
About that time he produced a pair of insulated coveralls and said put these on and ride the wing!! So being young and dumb that's what I did it really wasn't too bad once you got used to your legs hanging in the breeze!
Believe it or not! But as I say...
It is what it is
Rod
Wishing All A Happy New Year...!
4 years ago
4 comments:
Great story Rod! Must have been really exciting?? Well all except for the part about being on the wing, yikes!
Lydia
Like I said it was in my younger dumb days but the way he said it you know kinda like a dare so I did it. I do know he enjoyed it as I have heard many different versions or that story as told by him to other people thru he years!
Do you fly these days? I've earned my Private Pilot license, but haven't been up in ~15 years. Maybe now with the new job I'll get current and back up by summer...
No not much the guy that trained me still has 2 planes that I occasionally do get to fly in.
one is a cessna 185 and the other is a N3N biwing that I helped to do a total ground up rebuild on. It is actually about 7 or 8 planes that we put into one.
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