The Day

It was hot, muggy, humid, one of those summer days where everything is white and still.  The T-6 flight was a "go".  He showed up, wild black hair sticking up all over the place, an engineer, not a pilot, and super excited to be there.  He was 10 years old when someone flew past him in a T-6, a buzz job, that he never forgot.  Since then he wanted to go up in a T-6 and do the same thing.  He took a Go Pro, hooked it up to his head (so his footage is probably making him sick right now reliving it.  lol), and he had read books and materials and studied up on the airplane, and he wanted me to "shake the change out of his pocket".  So we took off and I did a low fly-by at our hangar to start with, to recreate the pass that guy did when he was 10, and then we went up, he did some of the flying, I did a flight by Glenndale, then I went up to 5500' to do aerobatics.  The whole sky was white, there was no horizon at all.  That's weird to do aerobatics with no horizon, it felt like I was doing it in IMC, except I *could* see the ground down there. He laughed, and whee'd, and enjoyed it, but it definitely didn't scare him. He'd been skydiving before.  He said he was stunned at how smooth the airplane was.  He expected it to be super loud and rough.  I even tried yanking it around not-smoothly because he said that more than once, but he still came away "shocked" at how smooth it was.  I am pretty sure that's the first time anyone's been half disappointed that I wasn't a more jerky, rough pilot.  ;)  I'm kidding, but he did keep saying how smooth and quiet it was and he'd expected to be jerked and jostled. I went after it hard enough that even I felt it a little bit.  lol  We were up an hour, which was a long time, but he shook my hand and grinned, and today sent an email saying he was a 100% satisfied customer and would love to say so on our website if we had a place to do so. We only have a place to do so on Facebook, so I sent him there, not sure if he has Facebook or not.  But I'm glad it went well.

Then came H.  His Champ was done, and he needed it moved to Wabash, and wanted "a couple more takeoffs and landings".  I moved his plane to Wabash, and then went up with him there to do three takeoffs and landings and two go-arounds.  The whole time I was tense as heck and hoping I'd be able to save it. In a Champ.  He's really, really bad.  Really Bad.  And he wants to go off on his own, and I wouldn't sign off his flight review. He's having surgery soon and isn't sure he'll be able to fly much, and I think that's for the best. He wanted me to "check him out" quickly so he could go fly before his surgery. I basically told him if he's going to do that he's going to have to do it illegally, because I can't sign him off in any kind of good conscience.  It took him 45-50 hours to get a tailwheel endorsement and that was barely, in a different plane. This one has more horsepower and is faster and darts more, and he's going to ball it up.  He ran the last one into a concrete hangar when he hand propped it and it got away from him.  This one is also hand prop only.  I don't even want to fly with him any more, because I'm afraid he's going to do something I can't get us out of.  He's that bad.  He's gonna stomp a brake or rudder hard when he touches down too fast and the tailwheel will break out and we're going for a ride, and I don't want to be in the plane.  I don't need that hit.  I do feel really bad for him.  He's older, spent a bunch of money buying this airplane and getting it all fixed up.  And now he can't find someone to check him out in it because none of the other local tailwheel guys will do it.  I did it last time and I don't want to do it again.  He shouldn't be flying. But he's not willing to give it up and is trying to do it the right way by getting whatever training he can.  But he's terrible.  I feel for him. But not enough to sign him off under my name.  Not like this anyway.

I was so tired from the whole day that I came home, laid on the couch, answered emails all day, and fell asleep early, after watching the Season Finale of "Alone", the season we were on, which was 3.  We both like that show when nothing else is on this time of year.  Good survival show.

Why older pilots in older planes go deaf. No electrical system, no headsets for the trip home.

Nice view of the reservoir under the wing

The Champ I flew on the ramp next to a Cub

The poor man flying his own airplane

The crew of ladies in a 172 who came to get me from Wabash

A previous satisfied customer shipped this to me and Steve.  Looking forward to testing it out.