On the Sobering Side

There is an air show today in Tarkio, Missouri. It's a town with only 2000 people in it, but they put on an air show well enough to get noticed, with a lot of good acts and good-sized crowds. Unfortunately, two of the pilots who were going to perform at the show were both killed on Friday while individually practicing for the show. One was Gary Miller, a long-time and proficient T-6 pilot who did aerobatic routines. He was in Colorado practicing maneuvers for the show when he stall/spun it into the ground. The other was Chandy Clanton, a 35-year-old woman from Nebraska who flew everything from light taildraggers to light twins to jets to warbirds but who focused on aerobatics and was making a name for herself, had won championships and flown at Oshkosh and such. Reports were that she had just completed two outside tumbles when she crashed. Ran out of room or ran out of energy? I don't know. But I do know three things. One, of course, I feel badly for the families involved-Chandy at least had two young sons. Two, I feel sorry for the organizers of Tarkio's air show on multiple levels. And three, I write about it at all not to be morbid, but...to take note. While aviation has more than its share of show offs, blow hards and big egos, it also has its share of responsible, careful, safety-conscientious pilots. I haven't heard that either one of these two pilots killed Friday was anything but the latter...low level aerobatics has such a small margin for error. Hey, it's not crab fishing--so many people do it safely for their entire careers--but they're all quite aware that it doesn't take a very big mistake to pose a very big problem.

Our Young Eagles were supposed to come back today to finish up their rides from our air show last weekend, but unfortunately the rain came back too, so we had to postpone yet again. It's a good thing we got Young Eagles flights in from 8-11 a.m. or so last Saturday, or we'd have a LOT more waiting to finish up. The rain also cancelled a flight review Steve was going to give at Kokomo and a primary lesson I was going to give at Sheridan. On the bad news front, that's lost income. On the good news front, I didn't have to go out early on a Saturday. On the bad news front, I had to wake up early anyway. Oh well. :)

I've been working on my CFI renewal stuff last night and today. I'm about done with "Stage Four" here and will have three more quizzes to take. It's so exciting, sitting here on the computer listening to it rain while I "study" for 100 to 250 minutes per section (insert eyeroll here). But I expire on July 31, and I'll be in Oshkosh in about ten days through to August, so it's definitely time to get my ducks in a row and get it done.

I cannot believe Oshkosh is coming up so fast-we are not nearly ready, on several levels. But we're working on it. It's always a little crazy getting ready and getting up there, which is why it is then so nice to be there, be set up, kick up your feet, enjoy the view and enjoy relaxing with friends. Of course, I won't have an 8-10 hour drive this year, since I'm flying the T-6 in, but I'm not sure I won't be just as tired at the end of the day. ;)

Well, I've taken care of forty email things to do and it's time to take Stage Four's quiz on the FARs, airspace, and TSA security, oh joy, so I'll end on the quote and get back to work.

"If you treat an individual as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be."
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe