Two Pilots & an LSW: The Event

One thing saved our bacon. Ray came in his Twin Beech after all. Sometimes one airplane can make all the difference, and it did. We were still weak and shy on warbirds, but at least we had a minimum amount needed to not be a total flop on it. The rest of the event? It went fantastic.

The weather was perfect. In the 70s, clear and sunny. The winds were a little swappy but not so bad that you couldn't get it done okay. The people came out. At one point, the roads were backed up for at least a mile in each direction as people tried to get into the venue. They ran out of parking. They ran out of food. The port-o-pots filled up. I came out of one at the end of the day and wanted to use the line from The National Lampoon Christmas Vacation movie and come out yelling "Hey Clark, the shitter's full." The beer tent sold out of everything but one case of each kind, which is WAY better than any previous years. The education booths and kids area were packed out, and the grass and ramp area was filled with spectators, chairs, etc. I was dying to take a photo on takeoff, because it was the perfect altitude to see the whole crowd, parking lots, backed up cars, all of it. But right on takeoff I'm too busy in the T-6 to get a good photo, responsibly, so I didn't. *sigh* It still bothers me though, it was a great view!

We left our house at 6:50 am and got to Indy Exec at 7:40 am for an 8 am pilot briefing. That's when I learned Ray was coming, which was such a relief. The briefing actually lasted until 9:30 because we had an extra one for the 'honor flight' or the three warbirds after the real briefing, and it ran us long. Because it ran us late, we started off backed up on T-6 rides. JP was supposed to do them and I was the back-up, and we needed back up right away, so I started doing rides, until close to noon when it was time to gas up and get ready for our formation flight. Ray and Glenn led in the C-45, and JP and I were #2 and 3. I felt like I got into and stayed in position much better this time, I'm less rusty than the last one, which means I need to keep doing it to stay less rusty, because I felt a lot smoother.

The day ran very well. It wasn't too hot, we kept busy with rides. The PT-26 sold out at 13 rides, the BT-13 sold out at 13 rides, the T-6s, we did 17 of them between me and JP. He did 10, I did 7, and then I did one BT-13 ride too. So it was a full day. I did 7 T-6 rides, 1 BT-13 ride, a formation flight, and then the flight home. By the end my feet hurt and my body was sore. I've done more rides than that, but the formation flying really wipes it out of you. It's high focus, high energy, high precision, high mental work, even hard physical work, and do that for awhile and then give 8 rides, after getting up at 5:30 am and being outside in the sun all day without a lot of food or drink, and...yeah, it's tiring!

Let's see, some random things that stuck out.

I have good friends. Greg O was sitting there listening to the announcer, and he said that every time everybody else would go by, the announcer would say their name and something about them. When I'd go by, he didn't know who I was, so he'd just say something like "And there he goes again!" or "His beautiful airplane", etc. So Greg told AE who said "I'll take care of this" and went over to the announcer stand and said "That's not a 'he', that's a 'she', that's Laura Stants", and from then on the announcer was all over it. lol Partly I don't care, but partly I do, if they're going to name everyone else, then they can name me too. So Kudos to Greg and AE for taking care of that on my behalf. :)

I wore the flight suit most of yesterday, because it seemed appropriate for the event at hand. And it's a little bigger than my other one so it's not so tight that it's as uncomfortable, and it wasn't 90 degrees out there, so I could survive in it. It made me look more official, and I did have several people come up to me afterwards, want a picture, or to talk, etc. A woman in a wheelchair was pushed up to me, her son said she was a life-long adventurer and she admired what I did with airplanes, and asked to take a picture with me. That was sweet. A lady came up and said she'd just heard a dad with three young girls tell them "Hey, that's a woman pilot right there, YOU could do that too, if you want!" and she said it gave her a big smile.

One guy getting ready for his flight was walking towards the back of the plane, and said "You look sexy in that plane", and took my picture, and I said thanks, and then he got in, and when he put on his headphones, the first thing he said was "Talk to me Goose". Cracked Me Up. So I figured he'd want to go do aggressive maneuvers. Nope. Top Gun or no, he didn't want to yank around any. :D

I had a lady who had never been on a small plane before, and her dad got her this ride, and was super excited to have her go with me instead of JP. We were all Purdue grads too. She is working on her PhD, but is interested in learning more about flying, too.

Most of the people I had up for rides this time were not pilots, just interested, and they all ended up loving it.

One of the other ladies I flew is one of our flight school's students in the Champ. She was actually one of the more difficult because she didn't want to be told how to get in, or out, or use a seatbelt, or use a ladder to get up, and she argued with everybody on how to do things because her dad has a Waco she gets in and out of. It got irritating. Just follow directions and get in the plane, we DO know what we're talking about too. She won the ride at the Poker Run, so we went up, I did a low pass at Sheridan for her, and yanked it around a little. Her dad is a pretty crazy pilot, and he wanted her to go upside down, but once I pulled hard and took it almost straight up and she said "You're not going to loop, are you?" I said no, and she said good. She doesn't want to go upside down because she has small children and she's afraid she'll get killed. But she didn't want the 'grandpa' ride either. So hopefully she was pleased with it in the end.

At the end of the day, I was pretty tired, and I sat down in the shade under the beer tent and grabbed a Dt. Mt. Dew. I was there maybe 20 minutes when the Ops officer came up and said "Have you started drinking yet?" I said "Just Mt Dew", and he asked if I'd be able to do a ride in the BT-13. Tim, the rides pilot, was worn out, and there was one more ride to give, and he had to get the plane home, and could I take the last rider. I have only flown the BT-13 once from the front seat, for less than an hour, a year ago, but actually flying the plane wasn't a concern to me as much as the little details. Like how I couldn't find the battery switch for awhile when I first sat down, or remember how to work the smoke system, or where to plug in my headset. You know, that stuff. Lol But I said yes. This guy had been given a BT-13 ride for Father's Day from his kids, but everyone thought it was tomorrow, so he missed his time slot. He only figured it out at the end of the day when he looked up the info for his flight on Sunday only to see it was today. He said he had a knot in his stomach, and he was so upset, and they ran out to the airport anyway because you never know what'll happen. He knew everyone else was gone, we were shut down, things were packed up. The rides pilot was done, like I said, so they asked me, and I said sure. I was standing up on the wing waiting for them to help him in, and he looked up and said "Can I take your picture?" I said "Sure". He said "The glamour pilot shot". I laughed and said I don't really do glamour very well, and he said "Well, you look glamourous to me. You look smart and confident and I appreciate that." He said it made him feel even better about getting on board for his flight. Hey, I appreciated it too. I don't mind looking smart and confident and glamorous! :) We went out and had a fun flight, and talked, and it basically made his day. The last flight of the day, everybody's umpteenth landing, a routine flight, and it was his once in a lifetime experience as a gift from his kids that he said he'd never forget. That's what the rides pilots who get tired have to remember.

Glenn said that he's been around airshows for a long time, but never as a performer, and how things are so much different, there's hero worship and other pilots are suddenly now your best friend, etc. He flew his first show in IL, and immediately was accepted into the fold. I didn't really get much of that, but it's probably my personality. He's outgoing and friendly and engaging and I'm quiet. He does one event and the TBM guy is his new best friend, etc. He was bummed that he couldn't fly this weekend, of course, in the show, in BOB. He was talking about the hero worship thing, and I said one of the most annoying things about airshow performers are the ones who start believing all that hero worship they get. Maybe that's why else I don't quite fit into that fold. I don't buy what they're selling, I guess. ;)

When everything was done, and we worked up the energy, I fired up the T-6 and headed for home. It was almost 9 pm, and the sun wasn't down yet. I left the canopy open, and the air was still and smooth now, and it was a beautiful flight home. I swung by Glenndale to say hello, and some guys hanging out for Father's Day saw and appreciated that. When I got to Kokomo, I wanted to practice 3-point landings because I had been doing wheel landings for riders. There was some plane waiting to land and watching me and I didn't want an audience, so I wheel landed that one, then went back and did two more 3-points. They actually went quite well, and then I heard BOB in the pattern, so I pulled on in and we put everything away. My feet were killing me, I had trouble taxiing with them! Yes, something was wrong with me for wanting to do more takeoffs and landings after I'd been doing rides and flights all day. I know this. Cameron and another kid came out and helped us put things away, and we didn't ask them to, and I appreciated that a lot. I was beat. I didn't do a great job putting away the T-6 but it got done. Dropped Glenn off at his airplane and then headed home and went to bed without a shower, which meant when I woke up this morning I not only washed my pajamas and myself, but my sheets. lol

I had one more surprise up my sleeve. Steve's grill. I left my car at the airport, so that the garage was empty. The slot where it goes wasn't ready for it, so I asked Chuck if he could deliver it Saturday night and put it in our garage where my car normally goes. I texted Cathy and asked her to unlock the garage for me and warned her Chuck would be coming in. He got it delivered Sat. night and told me it was there. When I took my car back home I had to leave it out of the garage, and we had my car, Cathy's car, Steve's Jeep, Kaylee's Explorer, and the grey Jeep Steve drove, all in our little space. Steve comes in and says "Why didn't you pull into the garage?" where there would be more space for everyone else. I said I had to unload a bunch of stuff and just ran out of energy to put the car away, and he was too tired to do anything about it. So this morning he went out to move the car, and I followed him out. When he saw the grill, he was really surprised. He stared at it for several seconds. He'd gotten so busy he sort of forgot all about it, and he was impressed that I got it pulled off, all put together, with a propane bottle hooked up, cleaned up mostly, ready to go, with ribbons on it. I was pleased with myself. Tonight for dinner he fixed us some burgers, and I made some mac & cheese to go with them, and we officially have a grill again. :)

Airplane photos below.