John J
Line Up and Wait
I thought I would share another scrap book story with you all.
Interesting I was going going through my old scrap book and found old I found an old faded picture that my dad took of me when I was 17 at the airport. I was untiing an early Beech Bonanza a C35 when he took the picture. It was the begining of a flight that I will never forget.
I was working at the airport to earn time and money for my commercial and instrument ratings. I was very lucky for the instructor was a part owner in the Beech. I would wash and polish it up really bright and he would give me duel in return. One day in late November I told him that I wanted to give my dad a real nice birthday present. I told him that he loved the Holiday Lights of NYC and I wanted to fly him up there so that he could see them from the air. Well the plans were laid. My instructor had me fly the Beech enough hours for solo and then check me out for nights in it. He knew my dad and felt it was a great ideal.
It was early in Decmeber and the weather was just perfect. A great dome of high pressure was over the Mid Atlantic and Northeast. Take off from Friendship (now BWI) was set for sundown. Dad worked right next to Friendship at Westinghouse Defense Electronics at the time. The flight time to NYC worked out to just about one hour. one hour up, half hour of sight seeing and hour to come home. There was plenty of fuel.
Dad always love flying and his knowledge of engines was so great to me. He worked at Ranger and P&W during the 30's and 40s We took off and flew into a wonderful deep blue sky heading up to NYC.
WE flew at 3,500 feet following landmarks that my dad enjoyed. About 40 miles from NYC I called what at that time was Idlewild Tower and worked out a frequency to use. They were great for at that time many pilots loved to fly over NYC at night. We got a frequency shortly and told the controller what I wanted to do was to fly around Manhattan at 1,500 feet. He came back to me and asked; "Do you want to fly clockwise or counter clockwise"I could not believe it but yes he did asked. I told him clockwis starting on the Hudson side. I dropped down to 1,500 flew over the Statue of Liberty so dad could see all the lights and sites. We flew 5 times around the Island. Dad never said a thing. His face was pressed to the window. The controller was great. He knew the Island so well and pointed out sites as we flew along. It was so beautiful that night. I also had in my flight bag binoculars for they help to spot things such as check points and airports when you are far away. Dad used them a lotwhile looking out the window.
Now it was time to head home. I thanked the controller a million times and he wished us a nice flight home. Dad loved it. I climbed up to 2,500 and set the plane up so that he could see the New Jersey Turpike. I gave him chores to do. I got him to figure out our ground speed using the turnpike signs that he could read with the binoculars. He had a lot of fun reading off the exits and interesing our calculations were vear close. I used check points and VORs and he used the turnpike signs. The flight to Baltmore went too fast. We wanted to have the flight never end.
On the way home he seemed speechless. He never said a word. Just before we got home he stopped the car and just gave me a big hug that I can stil feel today. It brought tears to my eyes and still does today.
It was a great flight.
Thank you for reading.
John
Interesting I was going going through my old scrap book and found old I found an old faded picture that my dad took of me when I was 17 at the airport. I was untiing an early Beech Bonanza a C35 when he took the picture. It was the begining of a flight that I will never forget.
I was working at the airport to earn time and money for my commercial and instrument ratings. I was very lucky for the instructor was a part owner in the Beech. I would wash and polish it up really bright and he would give me duel in return. One day in late November I told him that I wanted to give my dad a real nice birthday present. I told him that he loved the Holiday Lights of NYC and I wanted to fly him up there so that he could see them from the air. Well the plans were laid. My instructor had me fly the Beech enough hours for solo and then check me out for nights in it. He knew my dad and felt it was a great ideal.
It was early in Decmeber and the weather was just perfect. A great dome of high pressure was over the Mid Atlantic and Northeast. Take off from Friendship (now BWI) was set for sundown. Dad worked right next to Friendship at Westinghouse Defense Electronics at the time. The flight time to NYC worked out to just about one hour. one hour up, half hour of sight seeing and hour to come home. There was plenty of fuel.
Dad always love flying and his knowledge of engines was so great to me. He worked at Ranger and P&W during the 30's and 40s We took off and flew into a wonderful deep blue sky heading up to NYC.
WE flew at 3,500 feet following landmarks that my dad enjoyed. About 40 miles from NYC I called what at that time was Idlewild Tower and worked out a frequency to use. They were great for at that time many pilots loved to fly over NYC at night. We got a frequency shortly and told the controller what I wanted to do was to fly around Manhattan at 1,500 feet. He came back to me and asked; "Do you want to fly clockwise or counter clockwise"I could not believe it but yes he did asked. I told him clockwis starting on the Hudson side. I dropped down to 1,500 flew over the Statue of Liberty so dad could see all the lights and sites. We flew 5 times around the Island. Dad never said a thing. His face was pressed to the window. The controller was great. He knew the Island so well and pointed out sites as we flew along. It was so beautiful that night. I also had in my flight bag binoculars for they help to spot things such as check points and airports when you are far away. Dad used them a lotwhile looking out the window.
Now it was time to head home. I thanked the controller a million times and he wished us a nice flight home. Dad loved it. I climbed up to 2,500 and set the plane up so that he could see the New Jersey Turpike. I gave him chores to do. I got him to figure out our ground speed using the turnpike signs that he could read with the binoculars. He had a lot of fun reading off the exits and interesing our calculations were vear close. I used check points and VORs and he used the turnpike signs. The flight to Baltmore went too fast. We wanted to have the flight never end.
On the way home he seemed speechless. He never said a word. Just before we got home he stopped the car and just gave me a big hug that I can stil feel today. It brought tears to my eyes and still does today.
It was a great flight.
Thank you for reading.
John
