The T-6 ride was fun; it was his 80th birthday, and he hopped in back there better than most people half his age. He used to work for North American, and his family got him this flight to try to find something he hadn't done before, and he said they succeeded. He was never a pilot, had never flown in anything smaller than a DC-3 before, was a little nervous to start with, but he did a lot of the flying and wanted to try a couple of different maneuvers towards the end there. He had a good time, and I had a good time helping him have a good time.
A little later this afternoon, Steve, another young man and I hopped in the 340 and flew down to Indy Metro (and BOY was it hot out there) so that I could get the PT-26 out and fly it from the back, with Steve up front. I can tell you a couple things. Getting it out of the hangar by myself isn't going to be very easy, it's kind of a long walk over to it, which I suppose is good exercise, and I think they need to rethink their rule of putting it away with full fuel every time. Today with full fuel, Steve up front and me in the back, with a crosswind (not much headwead component), on a hot day, that airplane barely gets off the ground. There are two large cranes off the end of the runway doing construction, and some tall lights, and I had to turn at around 150' above the ground at a very slow airspeed to avoid getting too close to/running into those. It took me a very long time to get to pattern altitude, and finally I quit climbing after 10 minutes at 2200'. That was good enough to do steep turns and a couple of stalls. Flying the maneuvers shouldn't be a problem. I came in for the first landing, went for a three-point, and that one wasn't all that great. Next up I stayed in the pattern, never did get higher than 500' in the pattern before it was time to land, that thing climbs like a DOG, but did a wheel landing next, and that went much more smoothly. After that I was sort of done for the day. I need to go back out and do another handful of 3-point and wheel landings from the back seat; it was good to do it with a decent crosswind today for the practice of it, but before I actually instruct in it I want to do a couple more.
We flew the 340 back to Kokomo and hung out for awhile, before I took the 340 over to Aurora for maintenance and Justin G came and got me in the RG. We didn't get back to the airport until 9 something pm, and it was 10 before I pulled into the driveway. I didn't expect it to be a long airport day, but I had a good time with all of it, and I'm glad I don't have to take it over tomorrow morning when the weather is supposed to be a little cruddy anyway...
Meanwhile, Father's Day passed quietly. Fortunately we had a little Father's Day action for Steve yesterday. :) Happy Father's Day to all you great Dads out there, who teach their sons what kind of dad to be, and teach their daughters what kind of man to marry.
Now I vote that it's bedtime. I'm a little worn, in a good way. :)
Here's a pic on my way to Aurora tonight...
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