Westhimer Airpark
Katy, Texas
19 April 2003
1:30pm
The Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill
you.
— attributed to Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot.
This the 1952 L-18c / PA-19, one of the earlist Super Cubs.
This aircraft was sent to Italy in 1953 and became identified as
E.I.78. It spend the next 30 years working as a basic trainer
in the Italian Army.
It was based just north of Rome at an Army Base in Vitterbow for
most of it Army duties and for a short time in northern Italy just outside
of Milan flying in the northern mountains. The 'Cub' was returned
to the US in 1985 along with 75 others and sold to individuals. |
Here I am in the back seat ready to taxi.
I'm going to have to take up yoga to find a graceful way in and
out of the cockpit.
In the front seat is Ron Robertson, owner of the Piper, who
was gracious enough to take me up for a flight. And crazy enough
to hand over the controls to me. |
If you don't get in that plane you'll regret it. Maybe not today,
maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
— Rick Blaine in the 1942 movie 'Casablanca.'
Just about to roll out onto the runway.
It's quite snug for me in the backseat, but I won't complain. |
Aviation is proof, that given the will,
we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.
— Eddie Rickenbacker |
You little fool! Don't you know it is even dangerous to look at an
airplane?
— Spencer Tracy, advice to Myrna Loy in the 1938 movie 'Test Pilot.'
That's our ride leaving after we took off. |
Westhimer Airpark from the air. It has just the one strip (on
the left by the water), and there was almost too much crosswind to take
off in, but we got up. |
The engine is the heart of an aeroplane, but the pilot is its soul.
— Sir Walter Raleigh
| There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.
— Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970.
There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm.
— Sign over squadron ops desk at Udorn RTAFB, Thailand, 1970. |
Looking over Ron's shoulder as we approach
Covey
Trails. It's the grass strip in the middle of the picture.
I did a handfull of touch and goes here.
It was my first time with a tail dragger and flying from the back
seat was a new experience, too. |
In soloing -- as in other activities -- it is far easier to start
something than it is to finish it.
— Amelia Earhart, '20 Hours: 40 minutes,' 1928.
Refueling after our 45 minute flight.
We had to deal with the crosswind again when we landed, but Ron's
skills got us down nice and smooth. |
The original Italian markings that E.I.78 wore for 30
years. |
Flying was a very tangible freedom. In those days, it was beauty,
adventure, discovery -- the epitome of breaking into new worlds.
— Anne Morrow Lindbergh, introduction to 'Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead,'
1929.
| Can the magic of flight ever be carried by words? I think not.
— Michael Parfit, 'Smithsonian' magazine, May 2000
Flying is done largely with the imagination.
— Wolfgang Langewiesche, 'Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the
Art of Flying,' 1944. |
The airport dog, Flash, wanted to place some Frisbee.
So we did. |
We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night
She'd tell me to make a wish
I'd wish we both could fly
— James McMurtry, the song 'Levelland.'
Helicopter Flight |
Stearman Flight |
Ultralight Flight |
We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.
— Oscar Wilde
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