Those who have flown with me know how much I love formation flying. I just found out that a close relative of mine is pretty good at it, too! Hooper and I went flying in "Fred" and did a bunch of formation with Mike Macon in his Carbon Cub and Jeff Taylor in his Highlander. We had a ball and Hooper did a fine job. Coming up: Re-joins!
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Jeff Taylor in his Highlander.
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Mike Macon and his Carbon Cub.
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Daughter Janet had her turn in the PA12 and Mike Macon once more did the honors. If my kids become good formation pilots, they are going to owe that skill to their uncle Mike!
Congrats to Sam and Walt of Outlaw Aviation. Walt, who is a very experienced helicopter pilot, needed a fixed wing rating, so Sam soloed him at Madras while Cody Gustafson and I were there. For those
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Although an experienced double "I", Walt needed a single engine land certificate. Sam took care of that, starting with the solo.
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interested in the traditions connected with first solos, you might want to read "Traditions", a previous article in the Tailwheeler's Journal. Now, I'm not saying what instructor might have observed the tradition described in this article, but I will direct your attention to it HERE!
Way back when, I used to spend a lot of time at Logan and Reavis, which was an FBO on the Medford Airport. There was a talented helicopter pilot there by the name of Ron Gustafson. Ron is now a DPE and does a lot of checkrides in helicopters. He brought his son, Cody over to fly a little dual with me in the PA12. Golly, what a talent that young man is! I
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Cody Gustafson on the approach to the irrigation pivot.
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hope he comes back soon, 'cause we plan to put him in the back seat of the PA12 for a little backseat familiarization, since he's a tailwheel guy AND a CFI.
Speaking of talented pilots, Marlena Cromwell called to tell me that she took her checkride and is now a private pilot! Marlena is one of the most talented
aviators that I've ever flown with... I think I've told a lot of people that she was doing landings in a turn on her third flight lesson.... EVER. Marlena was mentored by Jim
Boeckl,
who did an excellent job of preparing this talented aviator and he is one of those who really should be a CFI... oh, well, I've stated my thoughts about this subject before.....