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The following is a sample from Chapter 27 in Flying Wires. One of the main characters, Jim Tezak, an ultralight flight instructor and friend of Lee and Steve Owen, has just lost his wife to a serious illness. Lee and Steve have taken dinner over to Jim's house. Steve is an ultralight pilot and Lee is a flight instructor.
The rest of the evening passed quietly. Jim ate his dinner while they talked about Bonnie and the funeral arrangements. Steve and Lee learned that Bonnie had expressed her wishes before she died. Later on, Lee and Steve guided the conversation around to flying and the flight school.
“Did Sam tell you about Bobby?” said Lee.
“Nope.”
“Well, all this just happened yesterday.”
“Solo?”
“Yup. Your chick has flown the nest. And then some.”
By the mischievous look in her eyes, Jim knew something was out of the ordinary. “Okay, what did he do?” Noticing that Lee had finished her drink, he said, “Before you go into the details, do you want a refill? Steve? Another Coke?”
“Yes,” said Lee.
“No. I’m fine.” said Steve.
Jim rose from the table, fixed the drinks, and then motioned towards the hallway. “Let’s go into the living room.”
Bobby was an unusual student. He had no fear, and on more than one occasion during his training, he had performed a maneuver that had gone awry. Jim had worked with him the longest, and was concerned that the guy wasn’t afraid of dangerous situations. Granted, since Bobby was a student, and an instructor was there to catch his missteps, he didn’t seem to worry about hurting either himself, his instructor or the trainer but, as Jim and Sam had told him, having a healthy respect for the sport also meant that having some fear was actually a good thing. Fear was a warning signal that you could get hurt if you didn’t handle the airplane properly. However, Bobby didn’t seem to know his limitations.
Jim handed one glass to Lee and took a sip of his own drink. After swirling the drink with her finger and taking a sip, Lee began. “Okay, here’s the story.” Before she continued, she and Steve sat on the couch while Jim settled into his easy chair, kicked off his boots, pushed the chair back and propped his feet on the footrest. Lee noticed he had a hole in one of his socks and smiled.
“We had a bit of wind yesterday. Early in the morning, there was a very brief window when the weather was marginal for solo. After Sam had Bobby do a couple of patterns and landings, Sam got out of the trainer and cut him loose. I was actually a bit surprised. Not only was the wind kicking up by then, but it had swung around and was blowing out of the west. Gusty, too.” Lee kicked her shoes off and crossed her legs on the couch. She rested the glass on her knee. “Anyway, he managed two pretty good landings. After the second one, Sam called it a day and told Bobby to taxi the trainer back to the hangar. We had the usual logbook entry drill and the cutting of his shirt tail, all pretty routine – up to this point.” Lee had been gesturing with her hands, and at this point in the story, she placed the thumb and index finger of her right hand together to signify ‘okay.’
Jim sipped his drink and nodded, content to let Lee continue on with her story uninterrupted. Steve, on the other hand, seemed about to erupt. Jim had a feeling that this was going to be one of those stories they would talk about for years to come.
Lee glanced at Steve. “Contain yourself, hon. You can tell about the off field landing.” She winked at Jim.
Jim raised his eyebrows. He just couldn’t let that statement fly by. “Off field landing? When?”
With a broad smile, Lee continued. “After the deed was done, Steve and I were hungry, so we went over to the sandwich shop for lunch. On the way back, I spotted what looked like Bobby’s Quick in the pattern over Hilltop. Steve confirmed it. While I kept driving, Steve stared out the window. You should have seen his jaw drop!” She patted Steve on the leg.
“I couldn’t believe it!” Steve exclaimed. “The wind was really up by then. I didn’t see anyone else in the air.”
“Soloed in the trainer and then soloed in his own plane on the same day – in that wind!” said Lee. “Crazy fool! When I made the turn onto the road up to the field, I stopped the truck. Bobby was on downwind, rocking along in the rough air.”
“Turns out,” Lee continued, “he decided to over fly the field. By the time we’d driven up the hill, parked and walked up to the airstrip, he’d gone around again and was on final approach from the north. Sam was in the golf cart at the edge of the parking lot. As Bobby flew past us, I saw something hanging from one wing. I started to say something to Sam, but he drove off towards Bobby’s hangar before I’d finished speaking.”
“How was his landing?”
“Okay. He did good. By the time Steve and I reached the hangar, quite a crowd had gathered. Not only had the strobe from the right wing come loose, but on closer inspection, the Dacron flap that covers the gas tank had blown back and wrapped around the crankshaft near the prop! Heaven only knows how long he’d flown like that.”
Jim shook his head.
“But that’s not all. He actually seemed glad to see what kinds of things can go wrong. He asked the bunch of us who were gathered around, ‘What else can go wrong?’”
“Boy, did we set him straight!” Steve chimed in.
“I’m not sure about that, Steve.” said Lee. “When Bobby went to get a screwdriver to re-attach the strobe, the guys were obviously concerned. Ted was floored that Bobby didn’t seem to realize how serious flying is. By the tone of their conversation, you could tell that folks want to give him a wide berth when he’s in the air.” Lee took a sip of her drink.
“Okay, my turn,” said Steve eagerly.
“Is this the off field landing part?” said Jim.
“Yup!” said Lee, leaning back into the cushions and lifting her glass as if making a toast. The drinks had relaxed her, and now she was also aware of how really tired she was. Still, she was happy they were able to take Jim’s mind off Bonnie – even if only for a short time.
Steve dove into the story. “While Bobby worked on the strobe and removed the Dacron from the crankshaft, Sam and Lee drove the cart back to the school hangar. Jerry and I hung around, but a few of the other pilots eventually went over to the school office, too. The wind hadn’t died down any, so I figured that Bobby was going to call it a day. I was about to leave when he said he was going up for one more turn around the patch. Jerry commented that he looked low on gas.
“Aw, I’m only going around once and then land. I’ll be okay,” Bobby told us.
“Famous last words,” said Jim with a grin.
“Got that right. Later on, Jerry said that due to the degree of bank Bobby made in the turn to downwind, what little gas there was in the tank flowed to one side, and nothing flowed into the fuel line from the tank.”
“Except air,” said Jim.
“Anyway, knowing Bobby, when we heard the engine die we weren’t sure if he was fooling around or if something had happened to his engine. It wasn’t until we saw him heading for a soybean field that we realized there was a problem. We watched him land and saw him get out of the plane; then we drove over to the flight school.”
“I was amazed at how calm Sam was,” said Lee. “After Steve and Jerry had told him about Bobby, he sat there for a moment with a look of total indifference, like this sort of thing happened all the time. Then he got out of his chair and said, ‘Guess I better fill a gas can and head over there. Jerry, can you navigate?’”
“So. Who flew the plane back?” said Jim.
“Bobby did!” replied Steve. “Lee, Ted and I were watching from a vantage point next to the hangars. I thought that Sam was flying it.”
“If I hadn’t known you weren’t there Jim, I would have sworn it was you!” said Lee.
“You taught him well, Jim. He flies just like you,” added Steve.
“Well, seems like Bobby had quite a day.” Jim chuckled. “First solo flight, first solo flight in his own plane, and first real emergency landing.”
“But that wasn’t all,” said Steve.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope,” said Lee. “Bobby said it was a great experience! He wasn’t scared at all. After he’d flown back and Jerry had ceremoniously taken a picture of the soybean adornment around ‘Bean Man’s’ landing gear, we all talked a little and then folks began heading for home. Steve, Sam and I were the last to leave. Jerry was preparing for an evening flight, even though the winds were now gusting between 10 and 15 knots.”
“You’re not saying…” said Jim.
“Oh yes! What do we see pulling into line behind Jerry’s Drifter? Bobbie’s Quick! Before we left, we saw him go into a 90-degree bank on a turn to downwind, recover – while we were trying to get our hearts out of our mouths – and make a steep, fast final approach and landing.” Jim just stared at Lee. “Twice.”
“Dadgum fool!” hissed Jim.
“That’s just about what Sam said! But I guess Sam’s seen it all. Aside from one outburst I won’t repeat, he looked pretty cool through it all, puffing away on his cigarette. He said something about realizing there was no way he could control what folks do after they solo. As instructors, we can only do so much.”
“That’s right, Lee. You haven’t witnessed one of your former students pushing far beyond their limits or doing something really dumb! But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen to you one day. Just like motorists, there are good pilots and there are bad pilots. In Bobby’s case, I hope he learns his limits before he hurts himself.”
The rest of the evening passed quietly. Jim ate his dinner while they talked about Bonnie and the funeral arrangements. Steve and Lee learned that Bonnie had expressed her wishes before she died. Later on, Lee and Steve guided the conversation around to flying and the flight school.