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Hello again, About 1 week ago, I wrote about my ride in a beautiful T-6. I want to make some additional comments regarding the plane's owner, Lee. Lee is a retired WWII Navy pilot who lives in Fortuna, a town about 20 miles south of Eureka, CA. Rohnerville http://www.edelmans.com/album/flying_photos/march_2000/rhonerville_runway. html is the small airport where his plane is hangered. Lee doesn't talk much when he's in the air or at least not to me. About the only thing he said to me was, "Now don't be looking at the instruments. Look at the horizon." It's fine with me that he wasn't chatty. I like the idea of being silent, of being one with the plane and the sky. However, Lee had plenty to say when he was on the ground. He has strongly held beliefs about planes and how people should learn to fly. I do not have the experience or the knowledge to agree or disagree with him. Besides, I am as interested in learning from him and hearing his flying tales as I am in riding in his plane. I pass some of his thoughts along to you: -Student pilots should be taught on tail draggers. -Tricycle gear planes are easy to fly. One doesn't really know how to fly until s/he can fly a tail dragger. -Ercoupes bore him. There's nothing much to do. (Don't be offended folks. Consider what he's been through and done in his life.) -He calls Cessnas powered gliders. -All students should have to do stall AND SPIN practice. -Because the landing gear are so close together, the T-6 is, using Lee's word, "squirrelly" on the ground. I think Lee has a reputation among the local pilots as being somewhat of a maverick. Andres, my CFI takes issue with certain flying practices of Lee's. Andres wouldn't come right out and say it, but I think he was a little concerned about me riding with Lee. Andres is an excellent instructor and he practices and teaches us safety, logic, precision, consistancy, discipline, organization, etc. I can understand why a pilot who's a bit, well, unruly, would make him nervous. On the other hand, Lee is 83, has been flying for 50-60 years and is still doing it. I don't think I need to state the obvious.
