The Last Check Ride

I hope there’s a place way up in the sky,
where old flyers can go on the day they die.
A place where a guy can buy a cold beer,
for a friend and a comrade, whose memory is dear.

A place where no doctor or lawyer can tread,
nor an FAA type would ‘ere be caught dead.
Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke.

The kind of a place where a lady could go,
and feel safe and protected by the men she would know.
There must be a place where old flyers go,
when their flying is finished, and their airspeed gets low.

Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
and songs about flying and dying are sung.
Where you’d see all the fellows who’d flown west before,
and they’d call out your name, as you came through the door.

Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad,
and relate to others, “He was quite a good lad”.

And then through the mist, you’d spot an old guy,
you had not seen in years, though he taught you to fly.
He’d nod his old head, and grin ear to ear,
And say, “Welcome, my son, I’m pleased that you’re here.

For this is the place where the true flyers come,
when their journey is over, and their war has been won.

They’ve come here at last to be safe and alone,
from the government clerk, and the management clone,
Politicians and lawyers, the Feds and the noise,
where all hours are happy, and they’re all good ole’ boys.

You can relax with a cold one,
maybe deal from a deck, this is heaven my son…..
You’ve passed your last check!”

Author Unknown

Angel Flights and Dog Rescue Flights are two of the selfless activties with which some pilots have the opportunity to become involved. They take quite a bit of time, commitment and actual dollars (in the guise of donated fuel and airplane expenses). However, they are also innately rewarding. I would love to get involved in the Dog Rescue efforts but realize that my Ercoupe cannot carry much more than a very small pet carrier with “maybe” one of the toy breeds. My rather “sedate” cruise speed would also limit the effective range over which I could transport a rescue dog.

But I figure I can help Bob a bit with his activities. As a “web guy” he recently started a site about Cute Dogs and Personal Checks. Everybody needs checks from time to time and we know how fond most people are of their dogs. In fact, dog checks are among the most popular “theme” checks sold online or through banks.

Sooo…if you’d like to help out just a bit (or a lot) you can. Please take a look – and buy dog checks from CuteDogChecks.com and help support Pilot Bob and his rescue flights.

At first I thought I did nothing for GA other than to feed my “habit” of getting into the air every once in a while. But, on reflection, I find I actually do a few things to help promote flying – just by doing what it is that I do. So I put the following thoughts together and tried posting my response to the forum. But, alas, the forum was “timing out” (not too surprisingly), which is an Internet term for “having problems with the site.” So, instead of having my thoughts disappear into cyberspace I thought I would share them with our readers. Here is what I had attempted to share:

Hey, I’m just a very small player in the field of general aviation. Last year I returned to the skies after a 37 year hiatus (I had allowed life to get in the way).

I bought an Ercoupe in September and took some people flying.

I took a close friend often enough that he became interested enough to begin private pilot lessons in January. He soloed in a C-172 (Congratulations, pal!) last evening. I took him out to celebrate afterward.

I have also started a flying blog about getting back in the air – learning to fly all over again – and about being a private pilot operating under sport pilot rules. Not much of a Web site yet, but it gets nearly 100 visitors every day.

Our daughter has flown with me and wants to learn. She is a teacher, so I will help her get “formally” involved this summer. She works for my company in the summers so I can make sure she has time to learn to fly.

One of her assignments will be to keep up posts on the flying blog – about her “learn to fly” experiences.

In April I begin working on becoming a CFI-Sport. I don’t think I really want to “teach” – but it should make me a safer pilot and is a cool personal goal. Who knows, maybe I will become interested in introducing some folks to the world of Sport Pilot and LSAs – in a more structured way.

Even though I am not “consciously” working on it (promoting general aviation), maybe I am helping out – just a bit.

So, what are YOU doing to help keep our flying interests alive and functioning well?

Bob has begun the intensive work (fun) required to become instrument rated. Admittedly, all flying is fun to some of us “hard cases,” but some of the training is very, very intense. So, his email stated, “I tell ya, I wanna get out tomorrow for some RECREATIONAL flying. Soo… badly, I’m seriously considering coming down to see you. I was supposed to go to Alton Bay with my Cuz on Thurs, but that looks like it’s going to get weathered out. He doesn’t think he can get off tomorrow. So… I’m looking your way.”

My response was, of course, to “come on down, I’ll take you to lunch.” (One of those $100 hamburgers that pilots talk about. One of us, however, enjoyed the Jambalaya special at Coakley’s in Havre de Grace.)

Now, by car, we live 275 miles and five hours of drive-time apart. Obviously, that is not convenient for a “lunch meeting” (which we can call a meeting because we are in the same business and collaborate on occasional projects).

With about an hour and a half of flight time in a C-172 (that’s a Cessna, small 4-place aircraft). Bob’s last email gave his time of arrival and departure like this: “I have to be back at home by 5p…wheels off by 2/2:30p so how’s a 12:00 arrival sound? I’ll need fuel, probably upon arrival would be best.“

That’s all I needed, I arrived at the airport about an hour before noon. I wanted to check on my airplane’s Annual Inspection (which is going well and should be finished next week). About 10 minutes ’til noon I heard a radio call from Bob, asking about wind and runway information. We gave him an advisory and soon watched him fly the pattern to a smooth touchdown. He taxied to the ramp near the fuel tank, shut down and climbed out of his plane. It was EXACTLY NOON. Great flight planning, eh? Harford Air Services (the FBO at Churchville’s airport) fueled the plane and then we headed to town to fuel the pilot(s).

We had our lunch meeting in Havre de Grace, whose name means Harbor of Mercy. I also threw in a short driving tour of this quaint and picturesque waterfront town at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. We then headed back to Harford County Airport for a sightseeing flight of the surrounding area.

Bob’s flight effectively demonstrated/implemented one of the great things, one of the “joys,” of general aviation. It would have been ridiculous for either of us to drive to visit one another for lunch. Some folks might claim it was silly to fly three hours for a lunch/meeting. But this was a multi-purpose endeavor. Bob needed some “recreational” flying as a break from the intensity of Instrument Flight training, we both wanted to meet to discuss an Internet project on which we were collaborating. It’s true we can collaborate via email and phone, but the occasional face-to-face meeting is also important and effective in the business world.

For me, the local sightseeing flight was a great way to familiarize Bob with the area and to get me back in the air. Because of life events I hadn’t been “up there” in a little over two months

So…it will soon be time for me to work on a mission list, get back in my Ercoupe for some (Takeoffs Are Optional) “practice” and begin making some trips. The ride in Bob’s plane certainly has my batteries recharged and ready to go. Hopefully be the end of next week the Ercoupe (currently in for Annual), the weather and my ankle (broke it during an ice storm in late January) will be ready for action. It has been 40 years since I touched a control yoke from the right seat (Bob let me fly a bit) – t’was cool. I am now eager for Jamie, my CFI, to begin training me to be PIC from the right side. That’s another goal, earning a CFI-Sport rating, and another story – to be determined.

Pictured in the photo to the right is my friend, Bob, and Gail Lynne Goodwin who plans to fly around the world with her husband (he is an accomplished pilot) to deliver 100,000 Hugs and raise $1 million for worthy causes.

The global hug tour will take off May 10, 2009 and land mid-September 2009. Fifty stops around the world are planned and at each stop at least 2,000 hugs will be shared. They’ll be launching from Boulder Colorado and heading west.

For more information visit Bob’s Joy of Aviation website and his Interview with the Goodwyns. To make a donation for a “HUG” visit the Global Hug Tour webiste. PS: I already got my “HUG” directly from Lynne and am happy to help promote this initiative.