Shotgun Diplomacy, Aviation Style

B

bigblockz8

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Nov 8, 2011
Messages
429
Display Name
Gore
My mom and I were lost out in western MD. Basically a stone's throw from West Virginia. We got lost and asked for directions. We then argued over who was right. I let my mom go the way that she wanted to, westbound when we live East/SE of where we were.

We end up on a long deserted road. Out in the Boonies now! There is nothing but farm land and the mountains in the background. I know the area by air but alas, I am in a car! I know that this mountain= Frederick is NE by about 35nm. She doesn't listen.

My brothers (curse their tiny bladders) had to use the bathroom. Luckily they had to do what males can do anywhere in less than five seconds. Me being the only teenager in a good 15nm, of course my "smart" phone would be dead. We are lost, have 1/8 tank of fuel remaining and I am charging my phone to use GPS.

My phone likes to act special and make me look like an idiot. No reception! GPS but no data! So much for 4G. I start walking and BAM!, 5 bars and great data!

As I am going through the paces I hear a shotgun being pumped. I look up...HOLY ****!

"Son, are you lost? *Standing with the shotgun in a ready to fire position*"
"Yes sir I am. "
"May I ask why you are on my property?"
"Sorry Sir we must have accidentally turned onto what I now assume is a private drive?"

At this point the guy stares and I start shaking, I mean I've seen movies and I've seen what happens when any outsiders (we just happen to be hispanics and their half and half son) get lost out in what is commonly called "redneckitory" by its own residents.

LUCKILY this wasn't a movie!

"Boy why are you shaking?"
"Sir you surprised me, I'm quite startled."
"Don't be. I had some poachers up around here a bit ago, thought y'all might of been one of em! They had a red Blazer (we're in a maroon trailblazer)."

Long story short he was showing me his farm and giving us directions to I-270. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a little something...Something familiar. Something out in the fog...Cub Yellow!

I immediately ask if that is a Cub that I see. The farmer smiled so big that I got scared.
"You know what that is? My Pa flew that. I fly it! Nobody round here knows! How do you?"

"I fly!"

This moment changed the entire mood. The farmer, Chuck, and I yapped on for a good hour and a half about the Cub. Then came his JD and it's power takeoff acting up and then back to the Cub and flying in general. We talked about the SFRA (he stays away) and where he flies to as well as how to land in soy. Chuck used to own a Stearman until he had to sell it for a combine...I woulda kept that biplane! He told a few Jack Tales and we had to wrap it up, I forgot about my mom!

In the end I made a new friend and I certainly will look even harder at every field or pasture that I ever pass. The memory of that Cub sitting there though, it makes me want to get up and make my dream come true.

My dream is to own my own little farm with a nice little strip for my Pawnee,Super Cub, and my 1972 Plymouth Satellite and 69 Charger to hit 120 on. A nice little pond at the bottom for my float loving friend and her 182 to come visit. Mountains in the background with a nice fog rolling in...nothing like Appalachia and a classic J-3!

Just to think...I was greeted with a shotgun and a cliche greeting and now I know a cool pilot...The odds!
 
Last edited:
Its amazing how many people are pilots. I've run into four now. Two on the subway (both are Ag pilots somehow), one at a gas station, and this last gentleman when he cocked his shotgun and asked what I was doing!

Anyone else meet pilots out of the blue?
 
Right after I moved back to the DC area I saw an advertisement in the post for 40 acres with a runway for sale on the WV/VA line. I drove out there to see if I could find it. I found this guy with a huge scar on his face and a shot gun. With trepidation, I rolled the window down and asked if there was property in the area for sale. He eyed me without saying a word. I then mentioned it may have been a nudist camp, "It's over there." he smiled. I asked about the runway, and he pointed out that I could see it from the road at a certain point.
 
flyingron said:
Right after I moved back to the DC area I saw an advertisement in the post for 40 acres with a runway for sale on the WV/VA line. I drove out there to see if I could find it. I found this guy with a huge scar on his face and a shot gun. With trepidation, I rolled the window down and asked if there was property in the area for sale. He eyed me without saying a word. I then mentioned it may have been a nudist camp, "It's over there." he smiled. I asked about the runway, and he pointed out that I could see it from the road at a certain point.
Click to expand...

There's a 20 acre sight next to me. It's open for zoning and sold for $19/acre in a public auction...Sounds dumb but I was thinking about the kind of runway I could build in 3000ft and the costs...

I heard talk of a nudist camp out near Winchester...Was it out that way?
 
Just bring Burt Reynolds with you next time. Make sure he brings his bow.
 
bigblockz8 said:
Anyone else meet pilots out of the blue?
Click to expand...

While flying home to Minneapolis from Tokyo several years ago I was reading an aviation magazine and the guy sitting next to me asked if I was a pilot. When I answered in the affirmative he explained that he was in the process of building a Glassair II in his garage. Turned out his home wasn't far from mine and I visited him a few times over the next couple of years while he finished the project. When he was ready to bring it to the airport he asked me if I knew of any available hangar space and it turned out that another friend who I was sharing a hangar with was just about to move to N.C. so the Glassair and my taildragger lived together until he relocated his home and airplane about 20 miles further west. I still see him now and then and now my next door neighbor is talking about buying the hangar the Glassair is in which belongs to another friend of my neighbor.
 
I know that area very well and lived just west of there.

I was very firm and curt with "visitors" I wasn't expecting (usually met them with a .40 on my hip and a hand pointing back down the driveway). Very often the "visit" was an attempt to see if anyone was home and to case the joint.

We have rent-to-own folks in there now and the house was broken into in October. We lived there 8 years and during that time had a ladder stolen from a shed.

Word gets out in a rural area very quickly not to mess with that ^%%*&%&%@@.
 
Last edited:
gismo said:
While flying home to Minneapolis from Tokyo several years ago I was reading an aviation magazine and the guy sitting next to me asked if I was a pilot. When I answered in the affirmative he explained that he was in the process of building a Glassair II in his garage.
Click to expand...

OK, here's what I'm imagining....
GUY: "Are you a pilot?"
YOU: "Ahhhhh.., that's an Ay-firm."

So he didn't punch you?

:D
 
dmccormack said:
I know that area very well and lived just west of there.

I was very firm and curt with "visitors" I wasn't expecting (usually met them with a .40 on my hip and a hand pointing back down the driveway). Very often the "visit" was an attempt to see if anyone was home and the case the joint.

We have rent-to-own folks in there now and the house was broken into in October. We lived there 8 years and during that time had a ladder stolen from a shed.

Word gets out in a rural area very quickly not to mess with that ^%%*&%&%@@.
Click to expand...

My grandma had a similar robbery. She had a van on her land and the folks were wandering around. Met them with her trusty 357. They were caught later and turned out to be the folks in a string of petty thefts.

She now rents out the land and the tenants had a car,boat, RV, and computers stolen (stolen in two hits). They apparently welcomed random people into their home. This is on an island so the RV and car were found in Hilo, the boat was found out near Molokai. She lives in a rural area about an hour's drive from town in Hilo.

I didn't mind the shotgun that much. I just got a bit paranoid with a greeting that makes me think back to Deliverance while there's a loaded shotgun pointed at me. Mine has a bit of a hair trigger...:eek:
 
Other than Tim & R&W's humorous exchange, this thread is stereotypically asinine.

So a guy with a shotgun in a rural area absolutely conjures images of Hollywood theatrics? Didja ever think firearms are a way of life with many folks? And those folks are more repulsed than you by Ned Beatty-esque confrontations.

To the OP, you have a great story. It 'worked out' because Chuck is a real human being and not some Hollywood creation.

You peeps have a lot to learn about rural living.

BTW: petty theft has been a way of life in HI for a very long time.
 
Last edited:
Richard said:
Other than Tim & R&W's humorous exchange, this thread is stereotypically asinine.

So a guy with a shotgun in a rural area absolutely conjures images of Hollywood theatrics? Didja ever think firearms are a way of life with many folks? And those folks are more repulsed than you by Ned Beatty-esque confrontations.

To the OP, you have a great story. It 'worked out' because Chuck is a real human being and not some Hollywood creation.

You peeps have a lot to learn about rural living.

BTW: petty theft has been a way of life in HI for a very long time.
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with carrying a firearm. I plan on doing so once I am of age and have the proper paperwork and training. I am all for homeowner's/tenant's right to do so. Shoot on sight though, kind of a grey area. You can never be too careful though.

Only rural living that I've done was with an aunt's family on their ranch for a couple of days. I have positive views though, the cliche hospitality and old fashioned hard work and ingenuity.

Had I not had been surprised I would have been at ease. I used to live in an area in which where a car backfired people hit the ground or had a handgun out whilst hiding behind a car (Luckily we only lived there between houses). Where I'm from a gun being cocked from behind generally indicates something ignorant and lethal.

C'mon though...if you heard a nice southern accent in Western MD while theres a shotgun pointed at you and you haven't seen anything for a couple of miles...wouldn't you be a bit scared?
 
When I hear a shotgun getting racked, I don't give a **** about the accent of the guy holding it.
 
bigblockz8 said:
There's a 20 acre sight next to me. It's open for zoning and sold for $19/acre in a public auction...Sounds dumb but I was thinking about the kind of runway I could build in 3000ft and the costs...

I heard talk of a nudist camp out near Winchester...Was it out that way?
Click to expand...

It was due west of Winchester in Gore, VA right on the VA/WV line. The airport is still registered VA46 Timber Ridge. The nudist camp closed up before the property went up for sale (and that was 20 years ago). It's not on the sectional anymore, but if you google map it you can still see the runway in the satellite shot. There's a field not too far away on the chart marked "Al's Field VA48" but darned if I can see whatever he claims the runway is from the satellite image.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top