CJones
Final Approach
Thought I would take time to share a 'right place at the right time' sort of deal I had last night.
My wife and I were driving home after spending the evening in Des Moines. We drove past the Ames airport to see if Tony Condon happened to be out with his glider and to see if any 'action' was going on at the airport. Just as we were turning to leave, I noticed what looked like a Pitts and RV-8 doing an overhead break to landing. I told my wife - "we need to see who those guys are!" We drive over and wait for them to taxi past the rows of corn so we can see the planes. As they get closer, we notice that the Pitts in front is red with "ORACLE" painted in big white letters on the side. My wife turns to me and says "Is that.....?" I said "No way. Why would he be stopping in Ames, Iowa?" The Pitts and what turned out to be an Extra 300L taxiied up in front of the FBO and shut down. The FBO was closed, so I thought I would at least offer a ride to town. As I walked out, the two guys flying were very friendly and met me with a handshake. I asked if they needed a ride to town and they said they might. I finally had to ask - "This isn't Sean Tucker's plane is it?" His reply with a chuckle was "They both are."
It turns out that the two gentlemen flying the planes are instructors at Sean's flight school in California. They were ferrying the planes to Gary, Indiana for the Chicago airshow and Sean would meet up with them there. Since the FBO was closed, they had to call someone to come open a hangar for them for the night. When the line-guy got there, I don't think he ever realized what planes he was dealing with - he just saw a couple of small airplanes that made him have to come out after hours.
Once we had the planes tucked away in a hangar for the evening, I drove them to their hotel and we parted ways. The whole time, they were chatting it up with us like nothing at all - even though they had been flying about 9 hrs cross country in a Pitts and Extra. I asked them if they had any sort of autopilot installed for their cross-country flights and their reply was "Well, my name's not Otto." They were super high-class guys and very friendly. Hopefully I can someday get out and snag a ride for some upset recovery training. ;-)
Just thought I'd share my 'right place at the right time' story with some folks that would appreciate it. If I told the story at work, everyone would look at me like "So what!?"
-Chris
My wife and I were driving home after spending the evening in Des Moines. We drove past the Ames airport to see if Tony Condon happened to be out with his glider and to see if any 'action' was going on at the airport. Just as we were turning to leave, I noticed what looked like a Pitts and RV-8 doing an overhead break to landing. I told my wife - "we need to see who those guys are!" We drive over and wait for them to taxi past the rows of corn so we can see the planes. As they get closer, we notice that the Pitts in front is red with "ORACLE" painted in big white letters on the side. My wife turns to me and says "Is that.....?" I said "No way. Why would he be stopping in Ames, Iowa?" The Pitts and what turned out to be an Extra 300L taxiied up in front of the FBO and shut down. The FBO was closed, so I thought I would at least offer a ride to town. As I walked out, the two guys flying were very friendly and met me with a handshake. I asked if they needed a ride to town and they said they might. I finally had to ask - "This isn't Sean Tucker's plane is it?" His reply with a chuckle was "They both are."
It turns out that the two gentlemen flying the planes are instructors at Sean's flight school in California. They were ferrying the planes to Gary, Indiana for the Chicago airshow and Sean would meet up with them there. Since the FBO was closed, they had to call someone to come open a hangar for them for the night. When the line-guy got there, I don't think he ever realized what planes he was dealing with - he just saw a couple of small airplanes that made him have to come out after hours.
Once we had the planes tucked away in a hangar for the evening, I drove them to their hotel and we parted ways. The whole time, they were chatting it up with us like nothing at all - even though they had been flying about 9 hrs cross country in a Pitts and Extra. I asked them if they had any sort of autopilot installed for their cross-country flights and their reply was "Well, my name's not Otto." They were super high-class guys and very friendly. Hopefully I can someday get out and snag a ride for some upset recovery training. ;-)
Just thought I'd share my 'right place at the right time' story with some folks that would appreciate it. If I told the story at work, everyone would look at me like "So what!?"
-Chris
