Monthly Archives: September 2011

A Girl’s Guide to the History of the Homebuilt Airplane From Pietenpol to VanGrunsven

September 25, 2011 By in Flying Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Lessons Learned During a Field Trip to the Cyber-Museum of Aviation

I grew up a girl.

Charlotte and her birthday doll

Charlotte, while growing up a girl

So since I became a pilot and joined the aviation world I often feel several paces behind my mates when the inevitable conversations about airplanes begin. I mean these guys can remember every detail of every airplane EVER manufactured. And I am like, “Well, the 152…” Because I trained in the Cessna 152 it’s really the only airplane I can speak about. That doesn’t leave many conversations I can participate in.

That needed to change. Continue reading →

Earthquake McGoon, Part Two

September 21, 2011 By in Flying Tags: , , , , 3 Comments

The continuation of the story of James B. McGovern, Jr. better known as Earthquake McGoon. Pilot, war hero and perhaps best remembered as a wonderful contribution to the human race.

Part One

Content is from Check-Six.com

Years of Silence…

Earthquake McGoon

Earthquake McGoon. Photo courtesy google images

After a French officer learned from Ban Sot villagers in 1959 about three graves in the area, CIA officials stifled his report. “They indicated in a vague way that they feared a lawsuit if they gave the relatives false information.  Therefore, no one notified McGovern’s or Buford’s relatives,” according to Felix Smith, a retired CAT pilot.

Smith recalled McGovern as being “a real big-hearted guy,” but not the “wild man” as the press widely reported. “He was a bon vivant, happy-go-lucky. He loved kids, and he was the guy who in a tense situation would come out with some joke.” Continue reading →

Earthquake McGoon: A Friend I Met in Felix Smith’s Memoir, China Pilot

September 21, 2011 By in Flying, Quotes Tags: , , , , 3 Comments
Earthquake McGoon

Earthquake McGoon, my China Pilot friend. Photo courtesy of AirAmerica.org

I’m not too good at remembering details. I guess you could say I am more of a big picture person. With every good book I read rather than the facts, I am left with impressions. If I took a test on the facts I would probably fail but ask me about an emotional interaction with the book and my answer would earn a high score.

In China Pilot I learned about a chapter in history previously unknown to me. I appreciate feeling a little less dense about the world but when I put China Pilot back on the shelf, my heart was with Earthquake McGoon, a larger-than-life figure to whom I grew attached. When he died I cried because the world lost such a humor-filled, light-hearted man. It just seems there should be more Earthquake McGoons. I don’t say that about very many people. Continue reading →

On Being Tamed

September 16, 2011 By in Flying, Quotes Tags: , , , 2 Comments

Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay with Thoughts of Pilot/Writers Filling My Head…

I think in song lines. At just about any moment I can think of a Jimmy Buffett line that nicely ties into my current situation. But at this moment it’s not exactly Jimmy. (Although there is a song line.) Instead it’s the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery and his fox and Little Prince.

“One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes,” the fox tells the Little Prince.

Sunset colors from a plane

Sunset pinks and blues and oranges seen from 3,500′ while flying home from lunch at Lulu’s in Gulf Shores

This line is what is on my mind as I sit on a swing on the grounds of the Grand Hotel overlooking Mobile Bay. It is just minutes after sunset and the sky is ablaze with pinks and blues and oranges. I am relaxing my gaze,  focusing on nothing in particular, making the horizon blur so I can no longer distinguish the water from the sky. The two seem to merge into one serene vastness. I hear a plane and once again sharpen my sight and look up. What pilot doesn’t look up when the sound of an airplane is heard overhead? Continue reading →