Will Fly For Food

In the mid 90s I worked with a guy that had a T-shirt with the slogan WILL FLY FOR FOOD printed on the front of the shirt.  It was a humorous reference to the aviation enthusiast penchant for spending $90 in avgas searching for a $10 hamburger.  The outfit we were flying for was a little charter airline headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia called Private Jet Expeditions. "Pee Jay" (our ATC call sign) operated 727s and MD-83s to vacation destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico.  It was my third airline, after Eastern and Pan Am.  Jim, the guy with the T-shirt, was a former Continental Airlines pilot. We were all ex someplace; slowly working our way down the airline food chain.  The irony of Jim's T-shirt did not go unnoticed.  Flying for food was pretty much what we were doing.

Twenty-four years (and four uniforms) later the airlines are making money, and I'm back at the top of the food chain.  The future looks bright, and for that I am thankful.  As for Jim's shirt; it's still out there.  I see WILL FLY FOR FOOD T-shirts for sale at every fly-in and airshow I attend.  I'm reluctant to buy one.  The reality of the slogan hits too close to home.  I am, however, more than willing to fork out $90 in avgas searching for a $10 hamburger, or a $20 pork plate. 

Lunch At Triple Tree Aerodrome

Triple Tree Aerodrome held their annual Fabric and Tailwheel Luncheon on Saturday, June 10th.  A $20 pre purchased ticket opened the hangar door to a slice of pork loin that was easily the best I have ever tasted.  What else can I say?  The weather was perfect! EAA Chapter 961 was well represented with seven airplanes in attendance.  Behold, the pictures!

Photo by Dick Kruse

N558, Jellystone Air Park's very own Pontiac Red and Sun Valley Ivory Hatz CB-1 Biplane. The second airplane to depart the Rock Hill-York County Airport, the third (of our gaggle) to arrive at Triple Tree Aerodrome.  I was solo for this outing, Brother Barbeau was in Pocono, Pennsylvania, working his weekend NASCAR King Air trip.

Colin & Joe Baker

After sister Emma, and "Father Joe," Colin is the third member of the "Baker Flying Circus" to learn how to fly in the family's 1947 Luscombe 8A, NC1143B.

John Roberts' Skyote, last to depart Rock Hill (KUZA), first to arrive at Triple Tree (SC00.)

The only entry slower than the Hatz, Dick Kruse's 1946 Champ.

If you have to park somewhere, it might as well be next to a Cabin Waco!  

The view to the southwest. . .

. . . and back to the northeast. . .

. . . and from the top of the hill next to the tower.  In the background you can see 1/3 of Triple Tree Aerodrome's 400' X 7000' putting green runway.

All of the usual suspects were on hand.  

Brian Rosenstein's Stearman.  Brother Baker has been in this one too!  Folks are starting to get jealous.

Speaking of being jealous. . . Yes, it sounds as good as it looks!

The sole Call Air Cadet resides in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Read all about it at LETS GO FLYING!

On the bus to the chow hall with Brother Baker.

The view from the chow line. . .

. . . and of the hangar/chow hall---and the point in time when I stowed my camera and commenced chowing down.

When Pigs Fly!

Since Brother Barbeau missed out on Triple Tree we decided to forage for food in Shelby, North Carolina a few days later.

Brother Barbeau in the Hatz.

A short walk (or ride if it's hot outside) from the FBO terminal.

NC1143B on the ramp at Shelby, NC (KEHO.)

As I said at the start of the post, I'm more than willing to fork out $90 in avgas searching for a $10 or $20 lunch.  I'm just not going to buy the T-shirt!

Hot Fun In The Summertime!

York, South Carolina, May 31, 2017.

"End of the spring and here she comes back, Fly Fly Fly Fly there. . ."

My apologies to Sly & The Family Stone.

Springtime in the Carolinas is usually pretty nice.  Not this year.  Regular ground bound folks in the area may disagree---but they weren't trying to fly light weight airplanes in the windy (and bumpy) conditions that prevailed for most of April and May.  Sure, a couple of days were nice, but I was out of town.  The old adage, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, was delayed a couple of months.  When the winds died down at the end of May the Jellystoners hit the trail. . .

Who wants ice cream?

Who doesn't?  The really good stuff is yours for the asking at the Bush-N-Vine Produce Stand in York, South Carolina, just ten nautical miles northwest of Jellystone Air Park.  The Jellystoners are regulars throughout the summer.  Our first visit of the season was on May 31, 2017.

Strawberry-vanilla swirl made with fresh Bush-N-Vine strawberries.  Brother Barbeau and I got there first, we couldn't wait.  Thirty seconds before this picture was taken Brother Baker called and said he was ten minutes out.

We sat on the front porch until we heard the roar of Four Three Bravo's mighty Continental 85. . .

 There he is!

Doesn't that look nice!

Transit Aircraft Parking at the Bush-N-Vine Produce Stand.

The Great Barbeau!

While Brother Barbeau was "Commanding the Sky" I was able to enjoy the scenery and take a few pictures.

Reunion at Unity Airfield.

The next adventure began the following morning with a trip to see our good friend, Les Kanna, at Unity Airfield, twenty-one miles southeast of Jellystone Air Park.

Unity Airfield, Unity, South Carolina, June 1, 2017.

Brother Barbeau was out of town so I bummed a ride with Brother Baker in Four Three Bravo.

Joe got a ride in Les' Grumman.

While Les and Joe were out and about Unity resident Ed Lee stopped by in his Corvair powered Sonex.

Great logo!

A short while later John Roberts was overhead in his award winning Skyote Biplane.

This airplane is stunning!  You may have heard about it. . .

EAA Sport Aviation, March 2017.

It's been in all the magazines.

Photo by Jay Selman

Brother Baker got to fly it back in the fall.  You can just see the top of his head in this picture by aviation photographer, Jay Selman.

Here's John with his masterpiece (and the well deserved Bronze Lindy from AirVenture 2016) back in April at the South Carolina Breakfast Club meeting that was hosted by EAA Chapter 961 at the Rock Hill-York County Airport.

Photo by Joe Baker

There I was . . . in the company of greatness . . . and I forgot to suck in my belly! 

"Them summer days . . . Those summer days. . ."

Unity Airfield, June 9, 2017

In my opinion this is the perfect summertime picture.  A biplane next to a grass runway on a warm summer day.  It doesn't get any better than this!  The picture was taken at Les' place last Friday.  It was a text message to my wife---so she would know I might me late for dinner.  

Navigating the Far East . . .

. . . at the Baker Aviation Museum.

While snooping around in Brother Baker's hangar earlier today (looking for a 10mm socket) I came across a book of vintage approach plates that, for some unknown reason, was not in a display case.  

USAF Far East Booklet, 1956.

Now close your eyes and imagine . . . You are tracking outbound on the 138 degree bearing from Waglan Island NDB, with a thirty-five knot crosswind . . . Typhoon Martha is 100 miles east of Hong Kong . . .

Kai Tak, Kowloon, (Hong Kong) China.

Too bad the ice cream machine at Wake Island was out of service.

Wake Island

Back cover.

Now on display . . .

A few of Brian "Poppa B" Baker's models.  Folks he's built more than 1,200, give or take a few hundred, mostly 1/72 scale.  

Success

[suh k-ses]

noun

1.  the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals.

2.  the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

3.  "getting up, and showing up." - Toni Wysong 

Followers of Jellystone Air Park know I like to ask the people I fly with what got them started in the flying business.  For many, it was just something they always wanted to do, for others, it was the family business---Grandpa flew in the war; Mom and Dad were pilots; so they became pilots.  For more than a few of my colleagues flying was not their first choice of careers.  Two gentlemen wanted to be doctors, but medical school, for whatever reason, was not in the cards.  One guy wanted desperately to play college football, but a knee injury during his senior year of high school squashed that dream.  His "next best" option was an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, and subsequent flight training.  That was an interesting conversation.  I desperately wanted to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, but got "sidetracked" by a football scholarship at Appalachian State University.

Landing a flying job is not easy.  There are no "pilot apprentice" positions in the US aviation industry.  You have to have the certificate before you can apply for the job. And that requires training---and time, and dedication, and nowadays, boatloads of money (taxpayer money if you are fortunate enough to learn to fly in the military.)  For women, and other minorities, not knowing the job is open to them too is a major obstacle.  But all of that is changing. . .

Be nice to your co-pilot, one day she may be your chief pilot.

My friend and colleague, Toni Wysong, is a 767 pilot based in Atlanta, Georgia.  She is also one of our chief pilots.  Before the siren call of the wide-body fleet she was a MD-88 First Officer grinding it out on the New York-Boston-Washington, D. C. shuttle, with yours truly.  When I asked if there were other pilots in the family, Tony, who is a very funny lady, said:  "My grandfather was a pilot in the Royal Air Force, we are the two black sheep in the family."  After I stopped laughing, I asked if she had had been in the RAF too.  She said:  "No, I started my career as a flight attendant at United Airlines.  It's a long story."

And inspiring!  See it all in living color here:  TEDxCentennialParkWomen.

Then one day, out of the blue. . .

Toni received a letter.

Click on image to enlarge.

Click on image to enlarge.

Sir Thomas Pike

"Movin' On Up!"

Color coordinated Russ Farris.

Jellystone Air Park neighbors, Forrest Walton and Russ Farris, have decided they need more "giddy-up" in the hangar, and swapped their beautiful 1957 Cessna 172 for a cream puff 1952 Beechcraft C35 Bonanza.  Forrest was out of town Thursday so post purchase acceptance flight duties fell to Russ.  Luckily the Jellystoners were on hand to document the event.

"There's no way I'm practicing touch and go's in front this crowd!"

Working the wobble-pump. . .  (She caught on the second blade!)

Under the bonnet. . .

Russ & Forrest

Friday morning it was smiles all around for the new owners!

It's The Holiday Season

Photo by Jamien Fisher

Is that Andy Williams I hear singing?  No, it's the sound of deicing fluid pounding against the fuselage below my sliding window.  The left stall vane is covered with ice, as is the rest of the MD-90 after a night of freezing rain in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Flight 1092, the 0715 departure to Atlanta, Georgia was going to be late---by two hours and thirty-seven minutes.  It took over an hour for the deicing crew to clean the airplane with Type I deicing fluid.  As you can see in the picture, it was really caked on!  Applying the final coating of Type IV anti-icing fluid to the wings and tail took exactly four minutes. About an hour and fifteen minutes to make the jet airworthy, after it was all said and done. Of course that was after we made it to the deicing pad.  Just leaving the gate was an adventure.

Twenty minutes before we were scheduled to push back our operations agent called with news that our ramp crew had yet to load any (passenger) bags.  The crew was short-handed, and everything was covered with ice.  Things were moving slow---when they finished with the Minneapolis flight they would head our way. . .  I turned to my first officer, and said:  "This is going to take a while."  He replied:  "Don't I know it, it's really slick out there!"

Slick it was!  During push-back the tug began to fishtail---I could hear the tires spinning through the interphone.  For a moment I thought we might be calling it a day, but the driver recovered nicely.  It takes a special set of skills to push one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of airplane on an icy ramp!  Hats off to the tug driver at Gate 82 at Pittsburgh International airport!

During my thirty year career I can't remember a single Thanksgiving to New Year's travel season that has not been affected by a winter weather event somewhere in North America. This years challenge in the Northeast came eight days before Christmas.  Luckily it was short lived, and there was plenty of time to recover.  Three years ago Frosty the Snowman paid a visit to the Deep South on Christmas Eve.  A lot of folks were late for dinner at Grandma's house that year.  I missed that one, fortunately, but I still have plenty of T-shirts. . .

Not that it mattered much to our passengers, but we were fortunate our delay came at the start of our duty day.  As we were leaving the deicing pad, ground control was directing an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 777 to a hardstand where it could refuel, following a diversion from Washington's (DC) Dulles International Airport---after an ocean crossing, and a few turns in a holding pattern, I'm sure.

More like The Winter Wonderland Route!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!