April 2011 - EAA Chapter 1189

President:
Sam Suttle
Vice President:
Joel Graber
Treasurer:
Jason Cantrell
Newsletter Editor: Gerald McKibben
/ Secretary 662-312-7876
http://www.eaa1189.com/
Below: “Don’t mess with me!” No M’am! She’s wielding a gun. Actually that’s a
riveting gun Cathy Knepper is holding. Husband and Chapter member Tom (with
her help I assume) built a beautiful RV-7A and Cathy wrote an article about an
epic Western journey they recently completed. The intent was to include the article in this issue of the Fun Flyer, but to do that it would have to be broken down
into several segments and continued from one issue to the next.
So the decision was made to publish the entire article, along with lots of spectacular photos taken on the trip,
as a separate document. You
can find it by choosing the
‘Newsletters’ tab on the
home page of the Chapter
website. It’s at the same
place as this newsletter.
Also, Larry Wallace writes
about a reluctant pilot’s
wife. Be sure to look at the
picture on page 5.
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Plans for the March fly-in at Warren Arter’s place are on hold at the present time.
Some want to attend the Open House air show at the Meridian Naval Air Station
on the 26, so the March fly-in will be changed to accommodate that. Be watching
for updates vie email and the Chapter web site.
We’re fortunate to have articles from two of our members in this issue. Randy
Gray tells of a trip out West last summer, beginning on page 3, and Larry Wallace
of Tuscaloosa does a good job telling how he was able to realize his desire to fly.
His piece begins on page seven.
From the President: Greetings from Louisville. This is my first attempt to
communicate to the club by the way of our newsletter. I want to let you know
how much I appreciate each one of our members and the opportunity you have
given me to be your president. We have a great organization and I hope you will
feel free to let me know any time you have a question, comment, or concern.
We have a great opportunity in may to meet the president of EAA and I hope you
will invite as many pilots or people interested in becoming pilots and your family
to the meeting. More will be forthcoming as to the arrangements and if you are
interested in helping please give me or Carey Hardin a call.
We are planning to meet at Warren Arter's strip in March (temporarily on hold;
see above). If the strip is too wet we plan to meet at Macon and have doughnuts
and coffee and move to Warren's to June.
Please check out the web pages below about the Grassroots fly-in with EAA
President Rod Hightower on may 21st. Again let me know how I can help to improve our club.
http://secure.eaa.org/apps/grassroots/
http://www.sportaviationonline.org/sportaviation/201102/#pg3
DR. SAM SUTTLE
suttlesa@aim.com
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Petals for Patriots Ceremony
Tupelo, April 9
wars. All are from North Mississippi.
Photo at upper right shows the rose
petal drop from a Tupelo Police Department helicopter. A good crowd attended the ceremonies. Three Cessna
195’s (One piloted by Chapter member Aubry Pearman) and a T-6 flew a
Missing Man Formation to honor
those who have lost their lives in battle.
Lower right: “Gold Star” families
have lost a family member in recent
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Above: Scenes from fly-in at Warren Arter’s place on March 19
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Wings for the Poor Man
Larry Wallace
The Reluctant Wife of the
Ultralight Pilot
Here’s the dilemma….you have always wanted to learn to
fly, but you never had the
time or been financially
able to take the training.
Now that you are retired,
you have the time but
don’t think you have the
money…UNTIL, you
find out about ultralights!
Certification to fly an ultralight can be obtained for less than $1000. Let’s see….I
can sell one of my two boats for $1000 or my old four-wheeler that I never ride
anyway or what about that motorcycle that sits idle in the garage?? Although
$1000 isn’t cheap, it is achievable! No problem here. “OK”, I reason with myself, “Now that you know the training is affordable, all you have to do is convince
the wife that the two of you could have wonderful exciting adventures together in
the air.” Here is where your problem starts!
Because women are from Venus and men are from Mars, “wonderful and exciting
adventures” conjures up completely different images for each. Wonderful and exciting adventures, in my wife’s mind is a cruise up the inside passage of Alaska in
a ship with all the luxuries of royalty and at least two formal tux and gown evenings. This may come as a surprise to many women, but these type of adventures
cause NO adrenaline rushes for a man. In fact, I have been able to completely
“zone-out” at these occasions (be sound asleep while standing with my eyes
open)! On the other hand, things like motorcycle riding through the Appalachians
or flying an ultralight aircraft give rise to countless hours of stories about sights
and sounds of nature, machines, rugged, macho, bravado…..REAL LIFE! Now,
in fact, to most women, those same activities give rise to, “Oh my Dear Lord, you
are going to DIE!” It is true that these sports are probably more dangerous than
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formal evenings, cruise ships, or shopping, (although I have seen some SCARY
sights at the Super Sales of clothing stores!) research shows that the incidence of
serious injury/death are no more than any reasonable sport. TRY TO TELL
THAT TO YOUR WIFE!
When I first broached the subject with my lovely spouse (and she is lovely and I
do love her), the conversation went like this: ME: “Honey, I found this place in
Tennessee that will give me ultralight flying lessons for almost nothing
HER:“Oh my Lord, you are going to kill yourself!” ME: “No Baby, you don’t
understand, ultralights are really very safe!” HER: “John Denver was KILLED in
one of those deathtraps!” ME: “Well, darling, John’s accident was pilot error…I
heard he was playing his guitar instead of flying, and I would never do that…
heck, I can’t even play a guitar!” HER: “This isn’t funny! Your life insurance
will be cancelled as soon as they find out!” Do you get the sense that she is generally opposed to the idea?
I could see right away that this would not be an easy sell to her. I was amazed at
how many pilot’s wives responded in EXACTLY the same words when their husbands brought the subject up. I needed some scientific research to counter her arguments about safety, so I went to the experts (thank goodness for internet!). A
study conducted in the 90’s compared the accident and death rates of general
aviation (GA) and ultralights and revealed that the ultralight rates were nearly half
that of GA! My wife LOVES to fly in airliners and she isn’t opposed to flying in
GA aircraft (go figure!) so, emboldened with this research and already 4 hours
into my flight training….men can be SO dumb…I had a second “heart to heart”
talk with her. ME: “Honey, I wanted you to see this information so you will
know how safe ultralight flying is!” HER: “You are just going to do this whether
I agree or not, aren’t you?!!” ME: “No baby, if you really want me to give up
this lifelong desire of my heart, I will for you!” HER: “OK, I want you to give it
up!” ME: “OK, when you say give it up, do you mean to quit taking lessons or
quit shopping for a plane?” (Clarification is always good at crucial times like
these!) Although her head did not do one of those 360 degree turns on her shoulders, her voice did shift into this spooky, unworldly tone…HER: “QUIT FLYING!!!” I could see she was clearly NOT in her right mind and did not realize
what she was saying, so I chose to interpret her response as “QUIT FLYING,
THIS YEAR” and as there was clearly 2 more months left in the year, I could finish my training. Conversation around the house was pretty minimal for the next
couple of weeks. When my friends asked how training was going in her presence,
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I did the “cross the throat” gesture for them to drop the subject. My REAL
friends enjoyed goading her about her “next husband”, how rich she will be with
the “insurance settlement”, all of those things that keep the topic at a boiling
point. Needless to say, I kept her away from THOSE friends! When asked if she
had flown with me, yet, her answer was, “I will NEVER fly in that thing!” She
had ME convinced!
When it came time for me to solo, the strangest thing happened….My reluctant
wife, in the sweetest, concerned, and loving tone said, “I want to go with you to
watch you solo.” Wait a minute! What was she trying to pull? Was this some
sort of reverse psychology to put guilt or pressure on me not to go? Did she have
suspicions that I had a girl on the side and the whole flying thing was a ruse?
Was she planning to sabotage the plane to keep me from flying? What was going
on?! Actually, she had come to some kind of “semi-peace” and genuinely wanted
to know more about this passion that her husband was so enamored.
It was a cold, cold December morning when we left home headed for Jasper, Tennessee. We made the trip pulling my newly purchased, used Tukan Trike, a short,
folding wing, hangglider ultralight craft. Excitement was in the air as I arrived
and began to unload the plane. That excitement turned to absolute amazement
when the trailer dropped off the hitch as I was pushing the Tukan back. I had put
the pin in the hitch incorrectly and the trailer had somehow miraculously stayed
on the car for 300 miles until that moment! On top of that, the trailer axle had
broken somewhere along the trip and was dangling in two parts underneath! I decided at that point if the Lord did not want me to fly, He wouldn’t have let the
trike make it to the airport. I think my instructor, Mike Theeke, saw the miracle,
too. It prompted him to remind me that “pilot error” is the biggest cause of aviation accidents! (Gee, thanks Mike!)
The time for my solo flight had finally come. Mike and Mary (Oh, that’s my
wife) recorded the event as I taxied to the end of the runway, warmed the engine
to the proper temperature, steadied my wing, and went through all the instructional comments that I had learned in the previous 10 hours of training. At the
video camera, the commentary between Mike and Mary was both instructional
and cautionary. Of course, I didn’t hear it until I came back. As I pushed the
throttle forward, the little plane sped briskly down the runway, leapt into the air,
and carried me into the cold blue sky. I was flying…now all I had to do was
make a few rounds and land. In the meantime, Mike had somehow convinced
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Mary to go up in his trainer. I guess she figured she couldn’t live without me so
she would join the “kamikaze” foolishness, too. She admitted later that she kept
her eyes closed the whole time! I landed….they landed…we all had flown in the
mythical dangerous ultralight and survived!
Slowly over the next few months, my lovely wife began to see the enjoyment I
had in flying. After I acquired my Sport Pilot certification, each of my children,
several of my church members and friends flew with me and reported to her what
a great time they had! Then it happened….I had mentioned that I was planning to
fly the next morning and she said, “I think I will go with you.” Talk about putting
pressure on a pilot…I knew that I had only one chance at making this good!
The morning was a cool, calm, perfect, morning to fly. As I buckled her securely
in the backseat, I spoke calmly and confidently (all pilots have this ability…until
the propeller stops turning) about safety and what to expect during the flight. As I
taxied to the end of our grass field, I could sense that she was a wee bit nervous…
that was because her grip on my shoulders felt like a grappling hook on a log
truck! I explained that I need my arms to function in order to fly the plane…she
loosened a little. My woman from Venus was about to take her first flight with
her man from Mars. As the Tukan left the ground, something just didn’t feel right
and I reluctantly set it back down, explaining that I wanted to make one more
thorough check. I thought to myself, “I just blew it!...she will never want to try
again!” I asked her to stay on the trike while I re-checked everything. After feeling assured that there was no problem (except my own inexperience), we taxied to
the field again. This time as the Tukan left the ground, I eased it gently up and
over the landscape. WE were flying! She was still a little uneasy with the higher
elevations but she began to develop a joy in flight. My reluctant pilot’s wife was
now a trike flyer.
Just the other day, she had a hard day at work (no, she’s not retired, yet). When
she came in the door, she said, “Is it too late to go fly?” I quickly answered, “It’s
never too late to go fly with you, my Dearest!” As we flew in that last hour of
sunlight, the calm, cool air just seem to make us feel at home in the sky. When
we made the last turn toward the airfield, the sun was in one of those beautiful
sunsets that can only be appreciated from 2000 feet. What a great evening to
fly…and what a great view to share with my “First Love”!
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EAA Chapter 1189
1982 Hickory Drive
Starkville, MS 39759
geraldmckibben@bellsouth.net
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