Garage Find

I'm beginning to get the idea that I'm old, too. I was born 40 years before you were. I soloed almost exactly 20 years before you were born. I retired from 42 years at Boeing on 2-1-92, the year that you got your ATP. Then I went back to the kite factory for another five years. You have done very well for yourself, Lou.

 

Only jet that you have flown is a 747! That is a great career and I would have traded with you in a flash! Yeah, 89 snuck up on me. I still enjoy my early days of flying but without the motions now. It never goes away.

 

Lou, we're almost exactly the same age, and soloed within a month of each other!

 

Pretty cool that you have been doing what you love for 30+ years. I am 3 years 7 days older than you and still want to find time to learn and fly solo. The closest I have come has been simulator time in a T-39, F-4E and F-15A and a incentive ride in a F-15B at 14. Unless you count my flight time racing motocross

 

I'm about to take my 16 year old son on his first introduction to flying. Hoping the flying bug bites him.

 

Most instructors do still cut off your shirt tail.
Cool find.

 

Lou- Great memories.

 

How times have changed . After I soloed my log book was signed and I went home. It was no big thing, a big war was just over and lots of pilots had soloed for the past 4 years and I had not done anything that was note worthy. i don't know when the shirt tail thing started.

 

The Brasilia is one of only two propeller-driven airliners that I've flown in (the Dash 8 was the other). Lou, how did you like the EMB-120?

 

I didn't do the shirt tail thing either, July 3, 1983... For whatever reason, the flight school I was going to didn't do that.

When I was a CFI, I used to do it, though... if the student wanted. Sometimes they were like, "Hey! That's a nice shirt!"

 

Same here...soloed on my 16th birthday, February 1981, then opened the door back up to let my CFI back in for the next lesson. I only had 7.5 hours at that point, so I guess he was still nervous. I remember getting lost on a crosscountry just a few days later. I never, ever got lost again after over 3000 hours in single pilot jets...right!

 

I think that I mentioned it once before. I got lost on my long X-country over the back country of Florida, no roads, no landmarks except alligator holes. Flying due north with a nervous compass meant that I understood the term "Dead Reckoning".

 

My Brasilia flight was a round-trip between Islip and Dulles. On the southbound trip we flew quite high, I recall about 22,000 feet. This was before 9/11, and the pilots kept the flight deck door open the entire trip. I went up there and discovered that they had recently been transferred from the west coast and were still learning the landscape. Ironically, while I was looking over their shoulders, I could see Three Mile Island coming up ahead and pointed it out to them.

On the return trip we flew much lower, around 8,000 feet if I recall. We flew right past Dover AFB, with a lot of C-5s very much in evidence on the ramp, and flew over the ocean to Long Island, a much different route from the southbound trip.

 

Did you fly the 146 Lou?

 

Damn. I'm writing a book on the 146. Would have been good to get some stories from you.

 

United used to fly a 146 from Denver to Santa Barbara (late 90's maybe?). Rode on it a couple times.

Seemed like a long flight for that plane.

 

The 146 is the only British airplane I've ever flown in, and coincidentally the only aircraft I've ever been on that had an aborted takeoff! This was also on United Express.

On a takeoff roll at Dulles, the pilot suddenly chopped the throttles, braked the airplane, and pulled off onto a taxiway and stopped. In the next few minutes he advanced and retarded the throttles twice, and then we headed back to the head of the runway. He announced that they had had a warning light on the panel and needed to check it out, and verified that only the warning light was at fault. We took off normally and flew to Daytona Beach. (Bloody British electrics!)

Incidentally, on that flight, sitting across the aisle, was a celebrity that I had actually already met in the past: the late Al Oerter, four-time Olympic discus champion.

 

During my solo, I landed on the wrong runway. I had practiced all previous landings with the instructor on 29R. During my solo the tower cleared me for 29L, I repeated the instructions and then landed on 29R. Too much going on in my mind that day. Another amusing story...When I took my instrument check ride I did quite well, except for the landing, I really bounced it on. The instructor, Jack Titus out of KSMF, sat me down in his office and said, "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is you passed the instrument exam. The bad news is that after that landing I'm going to have to take away your private pilots license." I'll never forget that, I though he was serious for about 3 extremely long seconds until I saw him crack a smile.

 

My older brother soloed at 15 back in 1985. He had to wait until 16 for his license. He got the pilots before getting his drivers license. I only took lessons. My Dad "forced" us to get lessons. His reasoning was if he had a heart attack or something in the air, his kids would be able to safely find an airport and land.

 

If you get a chance try a 777-200F. I hear good things about it's performance.