Preflight of 29er Hotel prior to my long cross country IFR flight
My instructor Al Stockstead at Mahlon Sweet Airport.
Al is a retired United Airlines Pilot with over 6,000 hours of flight time
The weather, I remember was calm and our flight took us past the recently erupted Mt. St. Helens. Al Stockstead, my instructor, sat next to me in the co-pilots seat and did the New York Times crossword on the way up. I flew the plan entirely by instruments which means I did not once have visual contact of airspace around me or the terrain below. (except, that is of Mt. St. Helens, with permission of Al) We flew at 9500 feet, filed a flight plan with Portland Center before taking off, and my plane, Cherokee 1029H, was being tracked by radar via our transponder which was set to squawk on a determined frequency.
Mount Saint Helens located in Skamania County, Washington
Shown here on May 19, 1982. It erupted on May 18, 1980 and
was the "deadliest and most economically destructive volcano event
in the history of the United States." Photo and quote courtesy of Wikipedia
Seated in the back seat was Alan Kline another of Al's students who I was 'ferrying' up to Bellingham, Washington to take care of some private business. He, it turned out, was most appreciative of my favor.
Little did I realize what a surprise was in store for me....
Little did I realize what a surprise was in store for me....
A few days later, I got a phone call from my instructor. The conversation went like this: Hey, Richard, I'd like you to go up in Alan's Stearman. He's going to show you some aerobatics that he's been practicing. Nothing to worry about--I've been training him for sometime and he's got certification in his bi-plane and is qualified. Are you game?
Well, it took me no more than 5 seconds to respond: this was a great opportunity. Sure thing, I quickly answered. Al then said, call Alan and set up a time.
Three days, Alan and I meet at Mahlon Sweet Airport. It's a clear summer day. He has warned me not to have anything to eat for breakfast as the maneuvers might 'upset' my stomach. After the visible walk around 'pre-flight', Alan seats me behind him in the open cockpit, bi-wing aerobatic. He instructs me to buckle up and put on the headset.
Alan revs up the engine checks the instruments and is granted permission to taxi to the active runway and hold. We watch the graceful landing of a Cessna Citation. Next a Mooney single engine takes off and then we are cleared for takeoff. As soon as we are airborne and out of the airport air space, we head north to Corvallis.
It's a heady feeling flying in an open cockpit plane with the airstream rushing by. Alan immediately communicates to me that all is a go and I sense some surprises in store. The first is a blast of loud rock stereo music from a Portland, Oregon radio station in my headset. Alan's voice is heard over the din: Richard, the music is a distraction so you can better enjoy the experience.
I'm cool. Somehow I get the feeling that Alan knows what he's doing. (Al is great teacher!)
In five minutes we are 6500 feet ASL. Alan, calls out: Are you ready? Sure, I scream back over the blasting music. Before long we are slowing and Alan stalls the plane and we are a spin and in a few seconds (which seems like an eternity) we are out of the spin.
Next, we climb back to 6500 feet and we level off. Suddenly, Alan pulls back on the yoke and we are ascending straight up and I notice we are beginning to stall somewhere at 8,000 feet. He then begins to execute what he later terms hammerheads--meaning he performed a number of them to show off his proficiency.
I'm still feeling ok!
He does lazy eights and barrelheads and others. I'm enjoying each and every stall, rollover and spin. More, more, more.
The Portland music is is blasting Peter Frampton and the Stones as Alan continues to 'rev her up' and stall again and again.
Our hour together seemed way too short.
It is great reliving this experience with you, aviation enthusiasts.
Hey, Alan, do you need another ferry to Bellingham?
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