A "nothing by chance" moment: 1st biplane time!!
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:11 pmI've been trying all week to A: find some time to go flying and B: find a plane and instructor to do at least a checkout flight. The two fields nearest my hotel could not help: one school had planes but no instructors, and the other had instructors but the planes were off line for maintenance.
Decided to drive way up to Oak Island today and inquire at yet another school there... something told me to not call first, just go. I'm glad I did.
Pulling into the parking lot at KSUT, wondering why I didn't call ahead to see if the school could accomodate me on short notice, I spied a gorgeous red 1942 UPF-7 Waco parked on the grass nearby... with a "BIPLANE RIDES" sign next to it.
Hmmm....
I'd considered a hop in another Waco based at Grand Strand, but decided at the time I wanted some flight time, not a ride. But she was so pretty I just had to go look.
Another guy showed up to look at it also- I thought he might want to split the ride with me (2 people can fit in the fwd cockpit), but he decided to try it later. I hemmed and hawed for about three heartbeats, and agreed to pay the full $120 for a brief hop... Carolina Belle was working her magic on me, and Laura, who runs this little business with her husband Jim, was also very nice- we chatted about flying while we waited for Jim to show up. She was nice enough to get a picture of me with the plane before the flight... too bad about my serious case of "hat head", but whatever. BTW, by this time I had totally forgotten about going over to see about a rental checkout in a 172... and a very good thing I had!!
Soon enough Jim arrived. Laura mentioned to Jim that I was a PP with some tailwheel time, so he put the front stick back in, despite my assurance that I really didn't want to fly the Waco.
In no time we were off for a little low 'n' slow sightseeing in this very classy biplane... with the Belle's very capable owner at the helm... intitially.
Level at 600 feet, I took one more picture then went to work steering her over towards Bald Head. What can I say? She was a delight. Kept asking me for just a smidge of right rudder, and I was a bit lost coordinating rudder in the turns (including a pretty good if egg-shaped 270 around the old lighthouse), but it was worth every penny to get myself a fistful of old biplane.
Eventually he suggested I take her back to the pattern... he took over for the entry to downwind and made a marvelous barnstormer's 180 onto 23, keeping the threshold in sight at all times. Made a very nice landing, too, despite some bumpy air over the runway.
That 0.3 hrs' UPF-7 time may not be much, but it sure looks good in my logbook... what a terrific "accident" !!
BTW, if you're ever in the SE corner of north Carolina, be sure to stop by and see about a ride. The site says they still also fly out of Florida, but that may no longer be the case.
http://www.brunswickcountyairport.net/S ... iation.htm
Decided to drive way up to Oak Island today and inquire at yet another school there... something told me to not call first, just go. I'm glad I did.
Pulling into the parking lot at KSUT, wondering why I didn't call ahead to see if the school could accomodate me on short notice, I spied a gorgeous red 1942 UPF-7 Waco parked on the grass nearby... with a "BIPLANE RIDES" sign next to it.
Hmmm....
I'd considered a hop in another Waco based at Grand Strand, but decided at the time I wanted some flight time, not a ride. But she was so pretty I just had to go look.
Another guy showed up to look at it also- I thought he might want to split the ride with me (2 people can fit in the fwd cockpit), but he decided to try it later. I hemmed and hawed for about three heartbeats, and agreed to pay the full $120 for a brief hop... Carolina Belle was working her magic on me, and Laura, who runs this little business with her husband Jim, was also very nice- we chatted about flying while we waited for Jim to show up. She was nice enough to get a picture of me with the plane before the flight... too bad about my serious case of "hat head", but whatever. BTW, by this time I had totally forgotten about going over to see about a rental checkout in a 172... and a very good thing I had!!
Soon enough Jim arrived. Laura mentioned to Jim that I was a PP with some tailwheel time, so he put the front stick back in, despite my assurance that I really didn't want to fly the Waco.
In no time we were off for a little low 'n' slow sightseeing in this very classy biplane... with the Belle's very capable owner at the helm... intitially.
Level at 600 feet, I took one more picture then went to work steering her over towards Bald Head. What can I say? She was a delight. Kept asking me for just a smidge of right rudder, and I was a bit lost coordinating rudder in the turns (including a pretty good if egg-shaped 270 around the old lighthouse), but it was worth every penny to get myself a fistful of old biplane.
Eventually he suggested I take her back to the pattern... he took over for the entry to downwind and made a marvelous barnstormer's 180 onto 23, keeping the threshold in sight at all times. Made a very nice landing, too, despite some bumpy air over the runway.
That 0.3 hrs' UPF-7 time may not be much, but it sure looks good in my logbook... what a terrific "accident" !!
BTW, if you're ever in the SE corner of north Carolina, be sure to stop by and see about a ride. The site says they still also fly out of Florida, but that may no longer be the case.
http://www.brunswickcountyairport.net/S ... iation.htm
