Cool story about the Cub. I'm waiting for one of those kids to grow up and offer me a ride in a T-45. ; )
Yeah, 137 kids and probably a dozen more adults. It was an over-the-top success, particulary the complete absence of any mishaps at an airport only 10mi from DFW, sandwiched between two other traffic patterns and tucked under a Class B, with a contract control tower that's obviously a training zone for ATC with LOTS of mistakes *usually* made, and by the way the tower manager was backing up a *brand new* trainee that day -- but they did *not* make any mistakes. At one point I was in a line of 5 aircraft for takeoff that had to wait for 6 arrivals. That's nothing for Oshkosh or SunNFun but I've never been more than number TWO for takeoff at GPM before.
There was a really good preflight briefing and a SIMPLE route (a big circle with inner track for 100 KIAS airplanes and and outer track for 120 KIAS airplanes). They asked if anyone would be exceeding 120 KIAS and two of us raised our hands, so they said "just go higher and farther"... and that worked. Plus some REALLY OBVIOUS LANDMARKS. Garmin900 traffic map was extremely useful as the Legacy was so much faster than the other aircraft, I used it to spot a gap in the traffic and zip up into it... and then slow down to 120... and remember how it was to fly a 172. My goodness how nice it is to have a Lancair.
Back to the original point, the trust of kids and parents was total and the pilots and airplanes lived up to it this day. Some of the parents just put their kids in line and let the pilots walk off with them; I made it a point to find the parents and shake hands and bring them out to the airplane.
Every one of the riders was completely enthusiastic, courteous, and curious. If you want to remember what flying is about, go volunteer for Young Eagles, it'll make your day.
On Sep 26, 2013, at 11:14 AM, George Wehrung wrote:
I also hope to become involved in the local EAA and programs such as the Young Eagles. 137 Kids flown? That's really awesome!!!
I will take a moment here to relay a story told to me by one of the pilots I fly with out here:
My friend Chuck owned of the J-3 Cubs back in the 70s. He was flying out of some airport in CA. After shutting down he noticed a young boy looking over the typical short airfield fencing at him as he was refueling at the end of the day. He took that kid flying at sunset into the evening. They went their separate ways. Years later my friend was approached by a Major in the Air Force at some base overseas. Chuck was an Army Warrant flying Citations at the time when he was approached. It was the same young boy who was thanking him for taking him flying and inspiring him into aviation. That's all I can remember after hearing the story over a few beers; but, still a cool story. I am sure it's happened to a number of you guys.
2 weeks ago 19 volunteer pilots showed up at KGPM and gave rides to 137 kids and some of the adult volunteers at a Young Eagles fly-in. Evidently none of the riders read your rules.