The Break

I'd had a two-hour night flight last night, getting home around 11 p.m. This morning we had a plan: two World War II veterans were coming out to Kokomo for T-6 rides, and one was having a surprise 80th birthday party out there while he was at it. When I woke up this morning it was to IFR conditions. The rain started falling on my way to the airport, and it stayed raining for hours. The family came out, and we had them throw the rest of the party first instead of last. They got a chance to sit in the Mustang and the other fun things out there, and we waited. And waited. While wave after wave of rain and storms and clouds came rolling in. They hung out there for hours, while we waited for a window that the TAFs just didn't say was coming. The second flight was canceled, the first family prayed for better weather, because they had come from several different states to all be together and perpetuate a whammy. They had told their 80 year old dad/grandpa/husband that they had a surprise for him, but that it was "Classified". When they got him to the airport and he figured out what was going on, he was lit up and hugely excited. Even the wait didn't get him down. Found out his nickname was "No Sweat" because he was such a laid-back Air Force pilot. He flew T-6s, and loved them. We got there around 9-10 a.m., and by 3:30 p.m. the TAFs were still calling for too low of ceilings to be able to get up and do much. I warned the family that it may not get in, but the rain on radar was going away, and when I stepped outside I saw a big blue hole. So we waited another 45 minutes, and just like that the sky started opening up. The moment the rain stopped we pulled the T-6 out, got him in a flight suit and gear, loaded him up, and Nathan took him flying. I drove the family out to the runway to watch him take off, and Nathan did a great takeoff pass over the family in a photo pass so they could get some snapshots. One more pass down the runway like that, and they were off.

When they landed, the whole family had gotten these t-shirts made up specially for the occasion, and they said something about the 80th celebration of "No Sweat", and they put them on and saluted him as he taxiied past in the T-6. Nathan did a spin-around on the taxiway and blew them back a bit, laughing the whole time, and the family was clapping and cheering and crying. When he got out of the plane, they all saluted him again before the hugs began.

His wife told me a story about how they met that sounds more like a movie. She missed six months of school for a bad illness, and was held back and put into his class-in First Grade. She knew him all through grade school, high school then college. When they were 16, he had a car, and she would ride to and from places in the back seat of his car with another fellow. One day the other fellow didn't come and she rode in the front seat with him. The rest is history, and they've now been married for 58 years, known each other their whole lives, and are still obviously very much in love. It was really cool to see her excitement at getting to surprise him with something so big to him, and every time he would fly by or taxi by, she would throw her arms up in a big Victory V. They were a super neat family to get to know today.

They left, we closed up the hangar, and as we drove off the clouds had lowered back in and the rain started hitting my windshield. We had just enough time, all day long, one break in which to get his 40 minute ride in, even though it wasn't supposed to clear off. Nathan said as they were flying along, he looked up and saw a huge rainbow. It looked almost fully circular, and he said the colors were as vivid as he'd seen, all five colors perfectly distinguishable. They aimed right at it, flew through a rainbow according to the men.

When they'd landed, the veteran said he felt 25 years younger. They had done aerobatics, the whole ball of wax, and he was just eating it up. You go, sir. :)

Steve, Kaylee and I went to Chili's for dinner, in the gray rain, and they have these kiosks (named ziosk) sitting on every single table. You can look at menu items, order dessert, and pay your bill right there, as it has a credit card slide reader right on it. Pretty darned cool. And we all know that ordering the rest of your food isn't going to be too far behind, now...