Letter from the FAA

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jesse

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Jesse
Letter from the FAA in 1974 to my grandpa...Pretty funny..
http://jesseangell.com/forums/faa/

He always maintained that his Stearmans were farm equipment and the FAA had no authority over him. None of these problems were fixed--and still existed--up to the day that he died in the '90s. The prop governor issue he had a reason for. The pitot/static system did not exist because he thought it was a waste of weight. He didn't see a point in having a medical.

He was just a farmer with a flying tractor and no one was going to tell him otherwise...

This anti-authority attitude was what I grew up with..and was taught...somehow I did finally manage to find a middle ground.

Comments from my dad about it:
whats funny .. is none ..of those violatitions were ever corrected! not ever! He fought them in court for as long as i can remember .. they finally left him and his tractor alone .. lol but at what cost ? i cant even begin to guess !
he went to court all the time .. he loved it ! it was ongoing .. they never beat him . he died before they got that done
he was sooo hard headed !
he spent thousands for a 50 dollar problam
when some ******* faa guy said he needs an airspeed and an altimeter to kill weeds and bugs .. he just wasn't going to stand for that
He surrounded himself with lawyers just to defend his right not to have an altimeter or a working airspeed indicator
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I enjoyed reading that very much. Our country may need a bit more of this if we're going to get through what is now going on politically.
 
Lance F said:
I enjoyed reading that very much. Our country may need a bit more of this if we're going to get through what is now going on politically.
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Agreed!

Jesse, I've gotta wonder how your dad would have reacted to the feds when all planes were grounded after 9/11, let alone the massacre on freedom by the TSA.
 
Ron Levy said:
Reminder: Politics goes in the Spin Zone. Stray not from the straight and narrow here.
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I think Lance was leaning more toward the infringement taking place upon general aviation. A good part of it is politically motivated.
 
Those were VERY different times!
I learned after my father's death in 2000 that he did not have a pilots license.
He flew for about 40 years, renting aircraft at various airports throughout Ohio.
One of the more memorable flights he related to me was stealing a British L-5 in Thailand during WWII. He did return it, though indirectly, when he was finished with it.
Some of you my have learned that the US military did not operate in Thailand during WWII. That is partially true. The OSS did conduct what today would be referred to as counter-insurgency operations there.
 
Ron Levy said:
Reminder: Politics goes in the Spin Zone. Stray not from the straight and narrow here.
Click to expand...

"But thou shall make the careful, focused post; for the topic is wide and the way is broad that leads to the spin zone, and there are many who enter through it." - POA 7:13
 
Joseph Brennan? Nick's grandpa and Jesse's grandpa fought with each other?

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
john smith said:
Those were VERY different times!
I learned after my father's death in 2000 that he did not have a pilots license.
He flew for about 40 years, renting aircraft at various airports throughout Ohio.
One of the more memorable flights he related to me was stealing a British L-5 in Thailand during WWII. He did return it, though indirectly, when he was finished with it.
Some of you my have learned that the US military did not operate in Thailand during WWII. That is partially true. The OSS did conduct what today would be referred to as counter-insurgency operations there.
Click to expand...


I'm curious as to what the story behind that L-5 is...:rolleyes:

Sounds like something I'd see in Baa Baa Black Sheep.
 
Good for your Grand Dad! May he rest in peace and the FAA go strait to @#!! :mad3: You should ask Atlee Dodge how he wants to be buried!:yikes:
 
..I've posted this video before..but there are some flying parts of him and some of him prop-starting his tractor. Looks like he did fine without an altimeter or airspeed indicator. The Stearman flying portion of the video would have been recorded about the time that letter was received.

tree_stearman.jpg


Lance F said:
I enjoyed reading that very much. Our country may need a bit more of this if we're going to get through what is now going on politically.
Click to expand...

KennyFlys said:
Agreed!

Jesse, I've gotta wonder how your dad would have reacted to the feds when all planes were grounded after 9/11, let alone the massacre on freedom by the TSA.
Click to expand...

It is a good thing he finished his life when he did...He absolutely would not have handled what is happening today.--god knows what he would have done. It really is too bad that we're losing that generation--they faught dearly for this country..and they wouldn't stand for losing their rights. Now, we're just push overs.....
 
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I'd seen it before. Jesse, Thanks for posting it again. It makes me long for what I always felt short on... time with my dad and advice later in life long after he was gone.

Tristan, nice dance in the left seat. Now, ya can do it in the right seat. :)
 
KennyFlys said:
It makes me long for what I always felt short on... time with my dad and advice later in life long after he was gone.
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Well there are some good memories--but those are pretty few. I was very young when all of this came to an end. Once my grandpa was gone, and the airplanes were gone, that is the end of any good memory. My father was a lot better pilot than a father--as was his father--and his.
 
jesse said:
Well there are some good memories--but those are pretty few. I was very young when all of this came to an end. Once my grandpa was gone, and the airplanes were gone, that is the end of any good memory. My father was a lot better pilot than a father--as was his father--and his.
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I understand. Similar was true with my mom.
 
Thanks for sharing the letter and video, Jesse.

My father's a much better... whatever it is he does... than a father, as well. One of my friends tells me "You need to get relatives you like." I've told her that my friends, the ones who treat me like family, are my family.
 
jesse said:
Well there are some good memories--but those are pretty few. I was very young when all of this came to an end. Once my grandpa was gone, and the airplanes were gone, that is the end of any good memory. My father was a lot better pilot than a father--as was his father--and his.
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Jess, first let me tell you that you have done a great job finding that middle ground. over the years at POA many of us have seen that transition and also given what I've seen of you I have no doubt that when the time comes you'll break the cycle that you speak about above!
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Thanks for sharing the letter and video, Jesse.

My father's a much better... whatever it is he does... than a father, as well. One of my friends tells me "You need to get relatives you like." I've told her that my friends, the ones who treat me like family, are my family.
Click to expand...

All in all, I think my father was a better dad than pilot but I also think he was a pretty darn good pilot so I guess I was awfully lucky in that area.
 
Thanks for re-sharing that video, Jesse. I'm going to have to get a copy of Dwayne's CD. That's just beautiful music.

I appreciate all the comments here, too, about family--being those, whether related by blood or not--who treat you like family. In that way, among others, aviation has blessed my life.
 
gismo said:
All in all, I think my father was a better dad than pilot but I also think he was a pretty darn good pilot so I guess I was awfully lucky in that area.
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If your father did something in addition to providing some DNA for you (provided it wasn't a negative something), you're lucky in my book.
 
My father had had a few hours in J-3 while in high school at the beginning of the war. He grew up in the lakes region south of Akron Ohio. Having watched pilots land and take off from the lakes in WACO floatplanes, he had an idea of what was required.
At the time, he was in charge of a USAAF radio station outside Bangkok Thailand that passed weather traffic. He needed a critical part that was in a storage warehouse in Bangkok. To get there by jeep would require four to five hours round trip. Using the canals in the city, the trip by air could be accomplished in less than an hour or so.
As the British were the principal operating force in Thailand, they allowed the Air Force to share the facilities. A canal ran through the base, separating the two allies compounds. The Brits had an L-5 on floats. They used the canal as the landing stip.
Late one afternoon, my father and a buddy, snuck over to the British side, got in the L-5 and flew into town. They landed in a canal and gave some local kids some money to keep their mouths shut and keep an eye on the airplane. They got their part, came back, and at a safe distance asked the kids if anyone had shown any interest in the plane. After being told no one had, they climbed in an took off.
It was dusk, and they knew they would get caught if were to land normally and return the plane to where they had found it. So he cut the engine, glided into the canal, beached it on the American side of the canal, and they got out and ran.
My father's desk was outside his CO's office door. When he arrived for work the next morning, the British CO was in the American CO's office ripping him a new one about some Yank stealing their plane.
When the British CO had left, the American CO called my father into the office. His words were short but pointed. "I know it was you, I can't prove it, don't do it again."
 
I asked an older guy who helped found an aviation company and had airplanes as toys back in the day why he didn't fly any more. His answer was, "Too much regulation". He went to boats instead.
 
Everskyward said:
I asked an older guy who helped found an aviation company and had airplanes as toys back in the day why he didn't fly any more. His answer was, "Too much regulation". He went to boats instead.
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I'm sure he's not alone. Sad for GA.
 
KennyFlys said:
I'd seen it before. Jesse, Thanks for posting it again. It makes me long for what I always felt short on... time with my dad and advice later in life long after he was gone.

Tristan, nice dance in the left seat. Now, ya can do it in the right seat. :)
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LOL I always forget thats in there!

:happydance:
 
john smith said:
My father had had a few hours in J-3 while in high school at the beginning of the war. He grew up in the lakes region south of Akron Ohio. Having watched pilots land and take off from the lakes in WACO floatplanes, he had an idea of what was required.
At the time, he was in charge of a USAAF radio station outside Bangkok Thailand that passed weather traffic. He needed a critical part that was in a storage warehouse in Bangkok. To get there by jeep would require four to five hours round trip. Using the canals in the city, the trip by air could be accomplished in less than an hour or so.
As the British were the principal operating force in Thailand, they allowed the Air Force to share the facilities. A canal ran through the base, separating the two allies compounds. The Brits had an L-5 on floats. They used the canal as the landing stip.
Late one afternoon, my father and a buddy, snuck over to the British side, got in the L-5 and flew into town. They landed in a canal and gave some local kids some money to keep their mouths shut and keep an eye on the airplane. They got their part, came back, and at a safe distance asked the kids if anyone had shown any interest in the plane. After being told no one had, they climbed in an took off.
It was dusk, and they knew they would get caught if were to land normally and return the plane to where they had found it. So he cut the engine, glided into the canal, beached it on the American side of the canal, and they got out and ran.
My father's desk was outside his CO's office door. When he arrived for work the next morning, the British CO was in the American CO's office ripping him a new one about some Yank stealing their plane.
When the British CO had left, the American CO called my father into the office. His words were short but pointed. "I know it was you, I can't prove it, don't do it again."
Click to expand...

Heh, awesome story.

Especially that last part. :devil:
 
Everskyward said:
I asked an older guy who helped found an aviation company and had airplanes as toys back in the day why he didn't fly any more. His answer was, "Too much regulation". He went to boats instead.
Click to expand...

Who is responsible for that?

We complain -- but this **** is happening on OUR watch!!!!
 
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