Thank you for sharing this story. It is the first that has had me in
tears with hilarity.

It just goes to show the sort of mock missions that occur at a USAF
military airport. :-)



On Tue, 11 Apr 2006 12:53:45 -0500, "Jim Burns"
wrote in
::

THERE I WAS....

We were straight and level at around 6,000ft and I let him take the controls
of the "X-Wing" to do some turns to the left and right. Joshua Approach
called and said there was traffic at our 2'oclock 2 miles opposite direction
and my son said to me "Look over there dad, 'Tie fighter' coming right at
us". I told him to steer clear of the Tie Fighter because our lasers were
out for repair and we were un-armed. No reason to provoke a fight.

So even though he is having a blast, I am starting to get a little bored and
thought, "Let's go do a practice approach on the ILS". So I called Joshua
Approach, requested the ILS 25 Approach to Palmdale Full Approach and off we
went. I maneuvered the X-Wing to the VOR and started the turn outbound to
the outer marker. Now my son is just really enjoying this. At the outer
marker, the blue light started to flash and you could hear the BEEP in the
headset. My Son jumps in and said "That Tie Fighter has locked on to us"! I
said "That's Right" and I started my evasive maneuver on the procedure turn.


My Son is listening to the exchange between me and the controller and wants
to chime in on the conversion. I said to my son, "Just hang on; I will give
you a chance". I never should have said that because now he is all excited
to talk on the radio. As I start to turn inbound on the turn, the Approach
control said "Contact tower when established on the localizer". So I told my
young Padawan Learner "OK, when this needle gets here on the dial, push the
radio button and tell the tower that 93 Romeo is inbound on the localizer".

Now imagine this, I am giving basic instrument instruction to a 9 year old.
Before I can give him something simpler to say he keys the mike and says
"REBEL BASE, THIS IS RED 5. WE ARE STARTING OUR ATTACK RUN ON THE DEATH
STAR".


Good God!!!

Now this was post 9/11, and before I can key my mike and say anything, the
tower jumps on and says "RED 5, YOUR CLEARED FOR THE APPROACH TO THE DEATH
STAR. REPORT HITS AWAY"

Now I am waiting for the tower to add "And tell your dad to call this
number" But I hear nothing else. So we continue the approach. Now my son is
in heaven. This is real life stuff to him and he is doing everything I tell
him to do as far as tracking the needle. As we approach the outer marker
inbound, the light starts to flash and there is that tone again. "Dad, the
Death Star has a lock on us". Yes Son, you keep on the approach, I will
worry about the guns.

Everything is going great and now we are approaching the middle marker. My
son has noticed the GPS has a red line with an airplane on it and it ends at
the Death Star. So he asks me "IS THAT A TARGETING COMPUTER DAD?" Well of
course it is, and it shows us where we are to the target. So now he hears
Obewan tell him to USE THE FORCE SCOTT and he turns the GPS OFF. Tells me he
is OK and does not need the targeting computer because he is using the
FORCE.


Now the middle marker light flashes and the tone comes on. I apply full
power and the airplane,,,X-Wing,,, Starts a climb. I start the turn to the
missed approach path when my son keys the mike and says "HITS AWAY". The
tower answers back with "GOOD JOB RED 5, CONTACT REBEL APPROACH ON 126.1"

We go back to Mojave SPACEPORT, and I decide that the X-Wing needs a bath.
So out comes all the cleaning stuff and we spend the rest of the day washing
and waxing the turbo jets and laser pods.

So you see. This is why I own my own aircraft. You cannot beat this kind of
quality time with your kids. And there is no way you can put a price on
that.

Jeff Bryant
Southwest Regional Director
Beech Aero Club
1975 X-Wing Fighter Model B-19
N6993R