I have a friend named Eddie. He isn't old but he has 25 years on me.
He has a beautiful citibria. He goes to the hanger every weekend.
He usually doesn't fly but if the weather is just right, he will. He is out there anyway. Smokes a cigar, shoots the breeze with other folks, polishes his chrome prop.
Visits with anyone on the field.
One day I was fixing my battery and there was no chance of flying.
Eddie was in his hanger smoking his cigar and admiring his plane and just vegging. I decided to have a long distance conversation w/ him
"Hey Eddie" I hollered from across the row of hangers.
"Why did you become a pilot anyway?"
He said "Come here"
He goes into his truck and brings out this folder and starts showing me these old pieces of paper.
"My grandfather was working out in a field as a young man and a plane flew over and dropped these little pieces of paper. They were looking for people willing to learn to fly and fly from coast to coast. If they could pull it off, they got $50k"
Back Side:
One of these slips of paper landed right by his foot and he thought maybe he should learn to fly a plane.
He found an instructor and learned how to fly.
Right away he realized that the contest was not important because flying was a big hit with the ladies and that is what was important.
So his grandfather got into flying and went through a few planes.
Quote on this was "My grandfather crashed a few planes and I still have a chunk of the prop from this one at my house
His grandfather finally mastered the art of flying and using it to his advantage
Here is a photo of his grandparents
Eddie's grandfather began teaching lessons.
Here is his original business card
And his plane
He taught his son (Eddie's dad) to fly
and "grandpa" gave Eddie his very first plane ride when he was a little kid.
Eddie and his dad went in 50/50 on the citibria in the 90's
and flew for a long time together.
His father passed away a few years back and he goes out to that plane every weekend and shines that plane up and flies it if he can.
When he was showing me these old photos, he told me.
"My granddad gave me my first ever flight lesson when I was a kid.
I gave him his last plane ride when he was 92 years old"
He pulled out this piece of paper and said "This is his pilots license."
It was just a small printed business card looking thing with a bunch of hand written signatures on it.
He shared so much history with me that day.
One day he came over to me and my dad messing with our plane and stopped us and just said something along the lines of "You guys are father and son. You guys get to fly together. Never forget how important these moments are with one another. You remind me of me and my dad and here I am. Those were the best memories of my life and here you two are making those same memories now. Please enjoy this time you have"
Here is a photo I snapped of him landing last year in the plane he and his father shared at 52F.
There is a lot of history in those "old pilots".
Lots of lessons too.
Funny story:
One day I decided to fly Eddie to lunch.
He flys low around the lakes and does sight seeing and doesn't ever go far.
I decided to fly an hour away with him and we were on FF
We landed at our destination and he says:
"I have no idea what that Voodoo you were doing on the radio is. That was impressive. On the other hand, if I ever landed with that much sideload on my gear, I don't think I would be brave enough to takeoff and fly again w/o getting it checked out."
