Airline Humor

I got a ride in this thing several weeks before this fly-in breakfast when he was charging $100.

This was Gene Littlefield's Stearman. I was only about 14 at the time so I don't remember the exact specs but I do remember this was no ordinary Stearman. The Pratt & Whitney radial engine would put out (I think) 1100 horses and swing that 10 foot prop. He was an airshow pilot. It said "Gene Littlefield" upside down on the fuselage. His wife was his wing-walker.

He told me a story about an incident when his engine lost power while flying upside down, 50 feet above the runway during a show, with his wife on the top wing. He was able to nose-up, roll it over right-side up and land it.

Gene sold that Stearman a few years ago and retired (he's extremely old, probably in his 90's) and today he owns a repair shop at the airport in Morris, IL (exit 112, about a mile north of I-80).

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Wow, a hundred bucks. When I rode in that old TravelAir thirty some years ago it was like $15 for me and a gal I had on a date.

Inflation sucks.

It cost me $2000 for an hour of right seat time in that Mitchell B25 a couple years ago. But it was worth every penny. Especially because from the moment the wheels left the ground to just about the last thousand yards of final approach, I was flying it.

The experience of a lifetime.
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I like small planes. The smaller the better, .... unless I have to go somewhere really far.

My mom owned one of these for about 10 years, from the late 1970's to the late 1980's.

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It was fun, but felt like riding around in a Volkswagen Beetle. Two seats. Cruise around 110 to 120. She took me up a lot, and right from the start I was taking the controls. Even though I never logged any time, or had a formal lesson, I could take off, trim the plane for straight and level flight, and land it.

Lotsa fun.

She flew it to Oshkosh for the EAA fly in a few times. By herself most of those times. Usually there were other pilots who had the same model plane that flew along.

It is like 1,600 miles, and about 14 or 15 hours flight time. I don't know if I could have done it. It would have been tough to do and going over the Cascade and Rock Pile mountains would be a chore.
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I wouldn't try crossing the Rockies unless I knew what I was doing. With a ceiling at or below 12k without turbo and oxygen, you'll be asking for trouble if there's any wind. Mountaintops are dangerous places to be when there's wind, due to turbulance and unpredictable down-drafts. I think that's what happened to John Denver, and Steve Fossett.

Speaking of Steve Fossett, I only recently learned that the 1986 Voyager records have been broken. But I wasn't surprised that Burt Rutan was the man behind beating his own record. He designed the aircraft that Steve Fossett used to fly all the way around the world solo, then continue on for another trip across the Atlantic.
 
Burt and Dick Rutan lead a dream life. Remember the Beech Starship? That thing was something else. I only saw one, and he was close enough that it sounded sort of funny for some reason. But that was one slick plane to see go by.
 
My mom owned one of these for about 10 years, from the late 1970's to the late 1980's.

View attachment 13863

It was fun, but felt like riding around in a Volkswagen Beetle. Two seats. Cruise around 110 to 120. She took me up a lot, and right from the start I was taking the controls. Even though I never logged any time, or had a formal lesson, I could take off, trim the plane for straight and level flight, and land it.

Lotsa fun.

She flew it to Oshkosh for the EAA fly in a few times. By herself most of those times. Usually there were other pilots who had the same model plane that flew along.

It is like 1,600 miles, and about 14 or 15 hours flight time. I don't know if I could have done it. It would have been tough to do and going over the Cascade and Rock Pile mountains would be a chore.

I have been thinking about getting one of these ZODIAC CH 650 - The NEW sport pilot-ready kit airplane from Zenith Aircraft Company but probably get shot down by that drone plane that flies over the border up here.
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It is cheaper if you buy the kit and build it yourself. Besides, I would rather pay a little bit more for a better quality. If it breaks down 2000 ft up, it is not like you can pull over on the shoulder and pop the hood.
 
If I was going to shell out a hunnerd grand, the thing better be able to cruise at least 150-200 knots and carry enough fuel for a 1500 mile range.
 

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