Christmas in October............
Finally got my Christmas present today.
My kids went together and bought me a ride in a 1942 Stearman Biplane. And today I finally got up in the thing.
Yeah, a bit of a wait, but Boy oh Boy was it worth it.
Looks like this-
I had to reschedule this thing several times due to weather and timing conflicts, but today I got it done and............... Wow!
Just about the funnist thing a guy can do while keeping his clothes on!
Yes, I know there is no such word as, Funnist. But that just describes it best so that's that.
The pilot, Monty, was very cool and a total pro. Explained everything as we went along, from pre-flight to take off and beyond. Gave me a little background on the thing and was very good at picking up on the parts that I found interesting and elaborating further on them. He really made the flight fun with his humor and knowledge.
We had barely made it up to 1000' when he turned the thing over to me. I wasn't expecting that at all. He just talked me through what I had to do and then let me have at it!
I've had the controls of a Cesna 172 before but this was quite a bit different. This thing has a friggin' stick & Not a steering wheel- Which means. Totally cool.
Surprisingly easy to fly. Took almost no real input to make it go where you wanted it to. He ran me through a few turns and what not and then showed me just how maneuverable it was.
Monty had done Crop Dusting for 20+ years and he showed me how to REALLY turn it around in a hurry!
Now, we were up about 800+ feet when he pulled that U-Turn. I can't imagine doing that at 10 feet off the ground.
Hot Damn, that was fun!
He was all business and there was never any doubt about him being the man in charge, though. I don't want to give the impression that he was unsafe. Quite the contrary. He was totally in command at all times. I could tell he was completely at home up there and had total confidence in him & that made the flight even better.
It was easy to see that, Monty is one of those rare, and lucky individuals, who truly has found the perfect job.
I rode "ThebigBluePlasticMotorcycle" up to the airfield today and that was another bonus. Damn. It's been 3 weeks since I even was on that thing. Ought to have my ass kicked for that. Having a motorcycle is still about the best therapy a guy can have.
So, all around great day and a "Merry Christmas" to all of you!
Now, all I have to do is figure out a way to come up with a shitload of money so I can take a good long ride next time!
Gratuitous Picture for a flying Monday-
Here's Monty giving y'all a thumbs up.
