Monday, April 27, 2015

Biplane Season Is Alive And Well In Arizona

We touched down at San Francisco International shortly before midnight Tuesday evening.  The weather was five hundred overcast, four miles visibility with fog.  A note on the ATIS said the weather at the San Mateo bridge was clear, with ten miles visibility; typical Bay Area weather.  It was "Junior's" first landing after IOE (Initial Operating Experience,) and a good one too; after a well executed ILS to runway 28 Left.  A nice ending to a long day that started in windy New York City, and changed airplanes in snowy Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Three of the five basic weather groups conquered on the first day!  The other two, thunderstorms and rain, would have to wait until we crossed the Sierras the following afternoon, on our way back to Minneapolis.

Midnight Pacific translates to three am (body clock) for those of us based on the east coast.  I expected to be "dragging" by the time we reached San Francisco.  Before we departed Minneapolis I grabbed a large cup of coffee, and nursed it for most of the flight; a sleep mitigation technique that has worked well in the past.  True to form, I was wide awake for the van ride to the hotel.  With nothing better to do (Junior was dozing) I turned on my not long for this life iPhone 4S, and began sorting through emails.  There were a couple from Big D, mostly Flight Ops stuff, and one from Brother Baker that was too large for the cellular network to download.  It would have to wait.

One hour later, still wide awake, I agreed to the terms and logged online.  Brother Baker's email was a forwarded message titled:  My Yesterday.  It was from his father, Brian, out in Arizona.  There were four pictures attached---and why the file was too large for the cell network to download.  Here's the message:

Finally got to fly the Stearman with Billy Walker.  I gave him some dual in 1959.

Here are a few pix.


Brian Baker


Billy Walker & Brian Baker


This looks like so much fun!


Billy Walker

Like father; like son. . .

Viewing Pop Baker's Stearman photos reminded me of a picture that I had taken several years back:

Joe Baker, Roxboro, NC, 2010.

The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. . .

No comments:

Post a Comment