Six School

The busy weekend begins on Friday. This morning I had my first flight in the new 172 (nice airplane) doing checkride prep. We ended in time for lunch, after which we went back out to Kokomo Airport for a kids' "Aviation Day". They were supposed to arrive at 2:30. They didn't make it until 3 p.m., and had to leave in 15-20 minutes, so they didn't get the full experience of individual photos in a plane, but they had a good time. We had 31 Second-graders and 9 adults, which is a pretty good-sized group. I had two T-6 rides scheduled for right after them, so I put on the flight suit and came in with the helmet just before my first rider arrived. Steve had me come to the front of the class so he could tell them that I was a pilot who flew at air shows in that plane over there, explained the flight suit, and picked one little girl to put my helmet on her. It didn't go on. Either he wasn't really trying, or my head was smaller than that 2nd grade girls'. ;) I handed out balsa wood airplanes and the kids left, happy but irritated that the teachers wouldn't let them stay long enough to watch the T-6 fire up.
My first rider watched the end of the gradeschoolers thing, then Jon got him buckled in and we spent 40 minutes in the Six. He did the takeoff, climbed us up, did some maneuvering to get a feel for the plane, then had me turn us upside down a few times, tried a roll himself, and spent the rest of the time doing takeoffs and landings, which he said was fun and an adventure all in one. :) My next guy, I expected to be a "straight and level only" based on his personality, but I was wrong. We were only supposed to be up 20 minutes, but I had to pretty much make him go back. He was hooked pretty hard, also wanted to do some aerobatics, and ended with "I think this was a very bad idea." He now plans on going to get his tailwheel endorsement, getting some time in the Decathlon, then coming back to see me to do some training in the Six at a later date. He had that fevered glow in his eyes, so I'm guessing he may actually do it. ;)

I was going to go do some formation flying with Trey in the other T-6 after that, but alas, it didn't work out. But that's okay, it was a fun, busy day as it was, and at least the gas I burned was all business, man. ;) One of the guys tonight said "Boy, you have a really rough job, don't you." Some days, yes, yes I do...