Two Pilots & an LSW: Wow

I guess I have stuff to write about now.

I got a text from a guy named Matt that I did T-6 training with. He'd done a really good job, so you know, the better they do, the more you push them. Anyway, he texted me with a thank you. He'd been at a formation clinic, and riding in the back seat of a T-6, when they had engine problems about 200' off the ground. He said the pilot flying got slow, and he recognized some of the work we'd done in a T-6, and he told the pilot "push down, push down, airspeed 80". The pilot did lower his nose, and they were able to land long but on a runway. There's a video of it. It's a cellphone video so not the greatest quality, but you can hear the people on the ground going "WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA" to start with, and you can see the T-6 wallow and about stall out, then the nose come down and they glide down to the runway. The nose was still too high, but at least they got down okay. Matt's text was a thank you for the T-6 training I'd done with him, the stall and engine-out practice that we did, because he was able to recognize, see, and help in a timely manner. He said he felt the training helped save their lives, and was wearing his Checkertail shirt the day he texted me that, too. I am not taking any credit, because the pilot was able to unlock and get the job done safely, and Matt was able to keep his situational awareness on his own, but it was really nice to hear that something I did might have made a difference, helped.

Which goes to the second thing. Steve got a text from a former student of ours. He said that he is an instructor pilot in the military now, in the C-130. He said that he teaches the military students how to land in the pitch black using their NVG equipment, and that there aren't a lot of them out there that teach that. Then he said that he always remembered how I pushed him, having him do his night training out at Glenndale without any lights, inside or outside, and he said he felt like that really helped make him a better pilot, and prepared him for being able to transition to doing this. I thought that was nice too. So a couple of people coming back after leaving and feeling like they learned something beneficial to them is just a nice thing to hear.

When I woke up this morning to do my Missouri, Kentucky runs, it was fog, and I don't mean cloudy, I mean FOG. Less than 1/4 mile, almost 0/0 for awhile. And it was that way all the way to Missouri. I spent a lot of time this morning looking at my options. It took me awhile to find a place to go as an alternate departure airport. In other words, if something happened, I wasn't getting back in at Frankfort. So I hunted around and found a nearby airport that was at least at minimums that I could get into if I had to, within 10 minutes of departure. Then out in Missouri, everything was the same way. It was supposed to burn off about 30 minutes after we were supposed to arrive. I looked a long time for options, and there was no alternate anywhere around there that would work. So I told them that we would head that way, and I would shoot an approach in. If it was at minimums, I'd get in. If not, I'd have to go-around, and we would head to Kentucky, even though they'd have to wait on the ground there for their appointment time. I got 3/4 of the way to Missouri, monitoring the weather and watching it hover below minimums, and then boom, the whole area cleared up. Crystal clear, severe clear, CLEAR. And it stayed that way the rest of the day. Wheeew. I'm really glad that worked out as easily as it did. They got their business accomplished, and I got the job done, not too bad.

In Columbia, MO, I wanted breakfast, so I took the courtesy car and went to a place called "The Copper Kettle". Once I found it, I wondered about my choices. It was hidden, run down, you drove around the back side to get to it, in a concrete building like a warehouse. And it was a gem. The lady in there, Shelly, was the waitress, the bus boy cleaning and wiping tables, the cashier writing up the tickets and taking people's money at the register up front, and the only one serving the tables and doing everything but the cooking. And at one point I heard her go to the back and say "I have a minute, what do you need" to the owner/cook back there. She did it all, she was smiling, friendly to everyone, fast, knew everyone but me, and super hard working. I got bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast, and tea with free refills, for $8.08. All that work she was doing and my bill was $8. Heck if you do 20% that's $1.60 tip. That's not right. So I paid the $8.08 on the company credit card, and then I gave her a $20 bill as a tip. She cannot possibly make hardly anything there. It's small, out of the way, and inexpensive, and she worked her butt off. If I was rich, I'd have given her something huge.

The people going in there all knew each other by name, and they were all watching some game that was on. I have no idea which one, but everyone that came in asked what the score was and everybody but me knew what was happening. lol The place was the kind of place that most rich or wanna be rich people would be dismayed at, because of the threadbare carpet or the old cloudy plastic glasses or beat up walls. But when I found it, I knew I was getting good food from good people, and so it was.

The trip to Kentucky was uneventful. I landed there, and I'm sitting in the lounge getting topped off, and I get a text that says "I just heard the news. :(" Wait, what?! What news? I say "What news?" She responds with "Glenndale". Well #$@$ me running, why don't you stop #@$@#$# around and just tell me what the $@#$@# is happening?? I go to Kokomo Scanner on the assumption that it's an accident at Glenndale, my heart in my throat, and it is. An airplane hit a golf cart and the pilot is okay (WHEW) but the golf cart person has been lifelined to Indy (NOT Whew). I know everybody out there on a golf cart. The person texting me says "Michelle". Like pulling teeth here, I said "Michelle in the plane or Michelle on the cart?!" For the record, I'm pretty peeved at this person. Just #@$@#$ing spit it the $@#$ out and stop playing @#$@#$ing games. So here's the story. Tom Hodgson has built a 1/3 scale B-29, which is super cool. Today was the day he did a test flight on it. Michelle and Ron were sitting on a golf cart off the side of the runway, filming it. When he came back in for a landing, he bounced, lost control of it, and the wing came over and hit the golf cart, causing it to flip over. Ron was fine, Michelle lost consciousness and was helicoptered out of there.

I'm sitting in Kentucky just catching up to all this, and I get a call from Kaylee. I rarely get calls from Kaylee in the middle of the day, so I knew, and I answered it. She said her friend had texted her about a crash in Kokomo and she was just checking on me. I told her it wasn't me, I was in Kentucky, and all was well here. I told her Michelle had been taken to the hospital after being hit in a golf cart by a plane.

When I landed back at Frankfort, my drive home takes me right past Glenndale, so I stopped in, in case people were gathered at the FBO, or hanging out together, like used to happen if something happened. The lights were off and it was all closed up, but the airplane was still in the middle of the runway, off to the side I assume, with a couple of official trucks with their lights on it. Keeping it safe for investigation, I assume.

We were sitting at home when we finally started getting word. Michelle was awake, in pain, but talking. Then we found out she has a separated clavicle, hurts like heck, but she's going to be able to be released soon! For awhile we were afraid she was lifelined with a head injury as she'd lost consciousness, and it's such a relief to hear she's going to be okay. Then she started texting Steve back. Not much better news than getting a text from the person. She said Tom lost control of it on landing, and boom. And that it hurts like nothing she's ever experienced before. I hope they get her good drugs. Ouch.

So that's been my day! Kind of a wild one. I couldn't take any photos of the fog or stuff sticking up out of the fog because the guys on board were clients to whom I had to dress up a little bit for and not take photos in front of. You know, be a professional and stuff. ;)