articfox
Registered User
Palmer Alaska
Artic here. I have been working really hard to get the Av-gas station up and running. (get your cheap gas here) Anyhoo, it was nice to finally get a break and go fly with some students. Ken, the boss called me and had me hussle over to Anderson Lake for a Flight-Review. He said a woman would meet me there with her Taylorcraft. I thought to myself this could be interesting since I like Taylorcrafts and I really like women. You know what I mean, right? So, I take the N-5 over and wait on the beechfront. Soon, this Super-cub shows up and floats over to the beach. Now, I try not to make assumptions about who I'm about to fly with. I mean how do you confuse a Tcraft and a Cub? I treat everyone with an equal amount of, well, whatever it is...
So, the cub pulls up and the windows open. It is pretty damn windy and there are whitecaps on the lake. Frankly, I was thinking that the pilot had to be pretty darn sharp to even want to land today. So, I look into the airplane and I see this guy and what I later found out to be his wife in the front seat. My first impression was wow, this is going to be one of those long Reviews where we shoot the sh!#$ for one hour and then the real story will come out where the husband confesses that the wife never really flies and on and on and on. If you have ever been an active flight instructor you know where I'm coming from.
Now frankly, I figured we would have to schedule another day since I couldn't imagine either one of the couple would want to return to the lake for a review. I mean by this time the wind was gusty, real gusty. But to get started I looked over her medical and logbooks. Everything was in order and we started with the ground portion. The whole time he was smiling like this woman really knew her stuff. It didn't take too long for me to figure out she did really know what she was talking about. In fact she knew more than most of the pros that come into the school. So did he. It was refreshing to see and it made me think that it may not be so bad to get her back into the airplane.
So, I get in the back seat and the husband helps his wife delicately to get on the pontoons then into the cub. She had such a beautiful grace about her. It was like she had done this a few times before. While she strapped in I commented on how nice the fabric was on the old bird. She said, "thanks I recovered it myself a few years ago." Believe me when I say i'm hard to impress. This woman was starting to impress me.
Now, like I said it was really howling. So, the husband says his wife, "l will push you off." He then gives us a push back into the water. Instantly the Cub weathervanes into the wind. He yells, "Get her started! Your headed for the fence." I was instantly seeing dollar bills being shredded. I told the woman that we were moving towards the fence and thats where the action started. I heard a click a and the cub was running. This woman had no hesitation to her. I have never seen anyone start a cub so fast ever. The water rudders fell into the lake and we were moving. I husband smiled at me and waved.
Now, I am not the nervous type but was anxious as I haven't seen anyone really make a good takeoff in wind like this. I haven't seen anyone make a good step taxi down wind with this type of wind. I'm here to tell you I saw it today. She whipped that Cub into order immediately and stepped to the other side of the lake. Perfect. The next thing I heard was, "here we go." I was kind of waiting for a big splash with lots of noise but instead it was this perfect transition to flight with about a 20 mph crosswind. Folks, I was impressed. Once airborne the wind was beating the hell out of us. I was holding on but the nice lady in the front seat was talking about cooking, I think. She flew around, her turns were perfect. Her everything was perfect. Her perfect was perfect. She outclassed so many of the pilots I encounter that she instantly had my heart.
When it came time to land I was very smitten. I was in love for many different reasons. She could fly, she could turn that Cub, she was in my opinion one of the best natural pilots I have met. It only took me minutes to figure it out. We landed in this perfect attitude and with that experience that only sheer time in Cubs can perfect. We motored up to the beach and I got out. Her husband was there smiling and said, "well, what did you think?" I got out and said she can learn nothing from me. It is hard to teach to a master.
I swear it was one of the highs of my whole summer. Two hours of sheer joy. They had been married for over 60 years. She covered airplanes in WWII and got her license in 1960. She was born in 1926...
My hats off to you Lavelle.
So, the cub pulls up and the windows open. It is pretty damn windy and there are whitecaps on the lake. Frankly, I was thinking that the pilot had to be pretty darn sharp to even want to land today. So, I look into the airplane and I see this guy and what I later found out to be his wife in the front seat. My first impression was wow, this is going to be one of those long Reviews where we shoot the sh!#$ for one hour and then the real story will come out where the husband confesses that the wife never really flies and on and on and on. If you have ever been an active flight instructor you know where I'm coming from.
Now frankly, I figured we would have to schedule another day since I couldn't imagine either one of the couple would want to return to the lake for a review. I mean by this time the wind was gusty, real gusty. But to get started I looked over her medical and logbooks. Everything was in order and we started with the ground portion. The whole time he was smiling like this woman really knew her stuff. It didn't take too long for me to figure out she did really know what she was talking about. In fact she knew more than most of the pros that come into the school. So did he. It was refreshing to see and it made me think that it may not be so bad to get her back into the airplane.
So, I get in the back seat and the husband helps his wife delicately to get on the pontoons then into the cub. She had such a beautiful grace about her. It was like she had done this a few times before. While she strapped in I commented on how nice the fabric was on the old bird. She said, "thanks I recovered it myself a few years ago." Believe me when I say i'm hard to impress. This woman was starting to impress me.
Now, like I said it was really howling. So, the husband says his wife, "l will push you off." He then gives us a push back into the water. Instantly the Cub weathervanes into the wind. He yells, "Get her started! Your headed for the fence." I was instantly seeing dollar bills being shredded. I told the woman that we were moving towards the fence and thats where the action started. I heard a click a and the cub was running. This woman had no hesitation to her. I have never seen anyone start a cub so fast ever. The water rudders fell into the lake and we were moving. I husband smiled at me and waved.
Now, I am not the nervous type but was anxious as I haven't seen anyone really make a good takeoff in wind like this. I haven't seen anyone make a good step taxi down wind with this type of wind. I'm here to tell you I saw it today. She whipped that Cub into order immediately and stepped to the other side of the lake. Perfect. The next thing I heard was, "here we go." I was kind of waiting for a big splash with lots of noise but instead it was this perfect transition to flight with about a 20 mph crosswind. Folks, I was impressed. Once airborne the wind was beating the hell out of us. I was holding on but the nice lady in the front seat was talking about cooking, I think. She flew around, her turns were perfect. Her everything was perfect. Her perfect was perfect. She outclassed so many of the pilots I encounter that she instantly had my heart.
When it came time to land I was very smitten. I was in love for many different reasons. She could fly, she could turn that Cub, she was in my opinion one of the best natural pilots I have met. It only took me minutes to figure it out. We landed in this perfect attitude and with that experience that only sheer time in Cubs can perfect. We motored up to the beach and I got out. Her husband was there smiling and said, "well, what did you think?" I got out and said she can learn nothing from me. It is hard to teach to a master.
I swear it was one of the highs of my whole summer. Two hours of sheer joy. They had been married for over 60 years. She covered airplanes in WWII and got her license in 1960. She was born in 1926...
My hats off to you Lavelle.
Last edited by a moderator: