WindOnHisNose
BENEFACTOR
Lino Lakes MN (MY18)
Ed Erickson flew a super cub...he flew MY super cub, and helped decorate it, turning it into Santa's airplane every year since we began the tradition in 2009. Ed "went West" in August of this year, at age 84, and we miss him greatly. He and his wife, Barb Mack, have a hangar two down from mine, and is very close to Darrel Starr's hangar, and Dan Carroll.
The newly formed MN Pilots Association was asked to nominate anyone who might be appropriate, and we immediately thought of Ed. I am sharing this with my Supercub.org family because he was known to many of you. SJ met him early this year, as Ed let him keep his C180 in his hangar. Steve Lewis met him, too.
Ed flew over 160 different airplanes over his 50+ years of flying.
Here he is with his Meyers OTW:
Ed flew the P-51:
Ed flew the TBM Avenger off the Navy's aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in 1992 as a part of the 50 year celebration of the end of WWII:
Ed was the Chief Pilot for AmJet Corporation, based out our our airport, KANE, and here is a listing of the aircraft he flew:
Beech Staggerwing, the Beech D-18, the Strikemaster, the HU-16, the C-123 Provider, the Fairy Gannet, the AD-5 Skyraider, the P-51 Mustang, the TBM, the Seafury, the Stinson L-5, the DeHavilland Beaver, the T-28 Trojan, Stinson Gullwing, the AT-6, B-25, A-26, Cessna 180, Cessna 185, the AVRO Shackleton, the Stinson N3N, the Kuethon Buccaneer, the L-29, the L-39, the Republic Seabee, the Cessna Caravan, the Husky, the Sea Venom, the Chipmunk, the C-60 Lodestar, the Saberliner 40A and the Riviera.
Ed had over 10,000 hours flying the DC-3, over 30,000 hours total. He was a Captain for North Central Airlines, then Republic Airlines, then Northwest Airlines, flying the Boeing 727 and 757.
I had heard that Ed was one of the last, if not the last, pilot to have a certificate authorizing him to fly any piston single or multiengine aircraft. Sure enough, Darrel Starr was able to scan in his ATP aviation certificate, and here is the authorization:
"ALL MAKES AND MODELS OF SINGLE AND MULTIENGINE PISTON POWERED AUTHORIZED AIRCRAFT"
We are losing some pilots, now, whose experiences will never be duplicated. When I flew with Ed it was pure joy...this fellow totally loved to be up in the air. When he developed a medical condition which might ground him, he called me, I advised him to go light sport and he promptly bought an Aeronca Champ...which he flew just about every day, year round. I was amused to taxi past his hangar, only to see his tailwheel tied to a post near his hangar (he hand propped the Champ), ready to go.
We have prepared a very, very strong nomination package on Ed's behalf, and I took it to FED EX this afternoon. Working on this inspired me to share this with you all, as Ed was the consumate taildragger pilot.
Randy
P.S. No, I haven't had any further worrisome encounters at our local shooting range...see Rant and Rave.
The newly formed MN Pilots Association was asked to nominate anyone who might be appropriate, and we immediately thought of Ed. I am sharing this with my Supercub.org family because he was known to many of you. SJ met him early this year, as Ed let him keep his C180 in his hangar. Steve Lewis met him, too.
Ed flew over 160 different airplanes over his 50+ years of flying.
Here he is with his Meyers OTW:
Ed flew the P-51:
Ed flew the TBM Avenger off the Navy's aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in 1992 as a part of the 50 year celebration of the end of WWII:
Ed was the Chief Pilot for AmJet Corporation, based out our our airport, KANE, and here is a listing of the aircraft he flew:
Beech Staggerwing, the Beech D-18, the Strikemaster, the HU-16, the C-123 Provider, the Fairy Gannet, the AD-5 Skyraider, the P-51 Mustang, the TBM, the Seafury, the Stinson L-5, the DeHavilland Beaver, the T-28 Trojan, Stinson Gullwing, the AT-6, B-25, A-26, Cessna 180, Cessna 185, the AVRO Shackleton, the Stinson N3N, the Kuethon Buccaneer, the L-29, the L-39, the Republic Seabee, the Cessna Caravan, the Husky, the Sea Venom, the Chipmunk, the C-60 Lodestar, the Saberliner 40A and the Riviera.
Ed had over 10,000 hours flying the DC-3, over 30,000 hours total. He was a Captain for North Central Airlines, then Republic Airlines, then Northwest Airlines, flying the Boeing 727 and 757.
I had heard that Ed was one of the last, if not the last, pilot to have a certificate authorizing him to fly any piston single or multiengine aircraft. Sure enough, Darrel Starr was able to scan in his ATP aviation certificate, and here is the authorization:
"ALL MAKES AND MODELS OF SINGLE AND MULTIENGINE PISTON POWERED AUTHORIZED AIRCRAFT"
We are losing some pilots, now, whose experiences will never be duplicated. When I flew with Ed it was pure joy...this fellow totally loved to be up in the air. When he developed a medical condition which might ground him, he called me, I advised him to go light sport and he promptly bought an Aeronca Champ...which he flew just about every day, year round. I was amused to taxi past his hangar, only to see his tailwheel tied to a post near his hangar (he hand propped the Champ), ready to go.
We have prepared a very, very strong nomination package on Ed's behalf, and I took it to FED EX this afternoon. Working on this inspired me to share this with you all, as Ed was the consumate taildragger pilot.
Randy
P.S. No, I haven't had any further worrisome encounters at our local shooting range...see Rant and Rave.
Attachments
Last edited:
