(Gordon) wrote:

My son was taking his inaugural flight today, thanks to a "Chuck Yeager - Young
Eagle" program at Gillespie Field (El Cajon, CA). He was standing on the wing
of a sparkling red Grumman Yankee, getting his preflight brief from the owner
while various civil and antique a/c came and went on the active, a hundred
yards away. I saw a French thing sitting on the numbers, ready to go but
taking its time. Looked like a Beaver that had been rear-ended by a Potez...
Single engine, shoulder wing, tail of a ... well.. a Potez or Leo - some kind
of twin tail that sure looked out of place on the little 4-6 seater. At long
last, the thing started making the appropriate amount of racket and took off
down the runway. Lex was looking at his pilot - I was looking across the
cockpit at him, toward the runway. My eyes followed the a/c; thinking, that
sure is a slow takeoff.. I don't think the tail ever came up. Answered a
question of Lex's and glanced back - gear is collapsing and its ground looping
to the right, as if he aborted the T/O and tried to turn off with too much
speed. Fire truck rolled quickly to the scene, luckily no meat wagon was
called.

After a short wait, the field announced everything was good and Lex and his
pilot took off, past the forlorn, wing-down kite. 15 minutes later, they
landed (he loved it) and taxied past the French-marked a/c, coming back with a
smile. My wife should stop beating me shortly ("YOU SENT HIM UP AFTER THE
PLANE IN FRONT OF HIM_CRASHED_?"). I tried to make her understand that
mathematically, the chancesOWW Owww OWWW

ahem. Anyway - two questions: everyone ok? and what the heck was it?

Let's see...your description of the "crashed" airplane:

"Looked like a Beaver that had been rear-ended by a Potez...
Single engine, shoulder wing, tail of a ... well.. a Potez or Leo -
some kind of twin tail that sure looked out of place on the little
4-6 seater."

Bellanca Cruiseair w/French markings? Who knows (afraid you haven't
given us enuff info to go on). As an aside, the EAA's "Young Eagles"
program is a noble endeavor and I'm glad your son enjoyed his FREE
inaugeral flight. However, although Yeager is doing a bang up job,
Yeager didn't start the Young Eagle's program and the first spokesman
was actually Cliff Roberston.

In any event, there was no such thang as a "free ride" back in my day
(by gawd!) and if I didn't have the moolah to go fly I'd have to
EARN it by mowing lawns or something. It astounds me how fantastically
rich EAA has gotten over the years largely thanks to 100-percent
voluntary, unpaid, aviation enthusiasts (or $uckers?) I suppose
Poberenzy has to come up with some way to pay for all his expensive
toys (P-51's etc.) and the thousands of gallons of fuel it takes to
make 'em work. Don't get me wrong as I've given an untold amount of
"pro bono" intro rides to young and "old" folks alike. As a CFI
actually trained a few 16-year old kids to the private pilot level
(compensated, of course). Young Eagle or no, I'm always willing to
take some youngun up for a spin and safely bring him or her back
down to momma or papa with big ol' ****-eatin' grin on their cherub
little faces.

But these days whenever I fly my sleek trike with its "techno-modern"
look and *spectacular* performance into an airshow, kids of ALL ages
look and start heading my way. Nothing against GA planes and old
warbirds, but it's interesting how quickly a modern ultralight trike
(in my case, a trike with a relatively powerful 4-cylinder, 4-stroke
engine with a bona fide N-number on it!) grabs folks attention away
from the usual GA fare. We've all seen 'em before..the usual
assortment of vintage trainers such as BT-13's, T-6's, Stearman's,
T-28's etc. [yawn] along with the boring, underpowered, hot and
cramped Cessnas, Pipers, Beeches et. al. tired old spamcans
[even bigger YAWN]

Or....that French looking plane that you said could hardly get out of
its own way [HO HUM]

Now, if you really want to impress your son, ask Poberenzy or some
EAA high roller to take your kid up in the EAA Official P-51 that
supposedly belongs to all us loyal EAA dues-paying members
[ya right] They'd probably look at you as if you're an idiot or
something even for asking! )

-Mike (Trikes RULE) Marron
EAA#563411Fixed-wing, weightshift Land/Sea Instructor
Comm, Multi-engine, Instrument/Land
A&P
CFII