Dear Mr [name withheld]:
Here is the letter you asked me to send you about my flight back in
December.
First of all, I would like to thank that very nice, older fellow you had
with you yesterday, you know, the one who took my student
pilot's license and told me I wouldn't need it any more. I guess that means
that he is giving me my full fledged pilot's license. After all
that happened yesterday, I have earned it. You should watch that fellow
though. After I told him about the flight, he seemed quite
nervous and his hands were shaking. He said he had never heard anything
like it before. Anyhow, here is what happened.
The weather has been so bad here in Ardmore since I soloed last week that I
had not been able to go flying. But yesterday I wasn't
about to let low ceilings and visibility, and a little freezing drizzle
stop me from flying up to Oklahoma City and back. I was pretty
proud of having soloed in only 6 hours, so I invited John Winters, my next
door neighbor, to go with me. We planned to fly up to
Oklahoma City Will Rogers airport, which, as you know, is less than 100
miles from Ardmore. There is this excellent restaurant on
Meridian just north of I-40 that serves absolutely wonderful charbroiled
steaks and the greatest mixed drinks.
Well, on the way to the airport the road was icy and our car slid in the
ditch. I can see why they say that the most dangerous part of
a trip is the drive to the airport. My neighbor was a little concerned
about the weather, but when I reminded him once again about
those steaks and the booze that we would soon be enjoying, he seemed much
happier.
When we arrived at the airport there were still a few snow showers around
but the freezing drizzle had almost stopped. I checked the
weather and was assured that it was solid IFR all the way. I was delighted
the weather was so good. When I talked to the man who
runs the airport, I found out that the airplane I had been flying was
covered with ice. You can imagine my disappointment. Just then a
friendly young line boy suggested that I take one of the airplanes that was
in the hanger. I told him to pull one out. I saw immediately
that it was very much like the Cessna 150 I have been flying. I think he
called it a 337. He told me it was also made by Cessna. I
noticed right away that it had two tails, but I didn't say anything
because, well, I was in a hurry. Oh yes, it had a spare engine too.
I unlocked the door and we climbed in. I began looking for the place to put
the key. Now I don't want to getanyone in trouble, but it
shouldn't be necessary to get out the airplane manual and follow the
checklist just to fly an airplane. That's ridiculous. I never saw so
many dials and needles and knobs and handles and switches. As we both know,
they have simplified this a lot in the 150. I forgot to
mention that I did file a flight plan with the guy in the tower. He said I
would need to because of the weather. When I told him I was
flying a pressurized Skymaster (that's what is said on the control wheel)
he said it was all right to go up Victor-163 all the way. I
don't know why he called it a victor, I guess that's just his pet name for
an interstate highway. And besides, it is I-35 Not 163. But
those fellows try to do a good job. They told me a lot of other stuff too,
but you know how much red tape there is when you deal with
the government.
The takeoff was one of my best, and as I carefully left the pattern just
the way the book says it should be done, I noticed that the
Skymaster doesn't climb as good as the 150. The tower told me to contact
Fort Worth Center. I dialed in the frequency that he gave
me but it seemed kind of silly to call them since I wasn't going to Fort
Worth. Just then there must have been some kind of
emergency because a lot of airline pilots began yelling stuff at the same
time and made such a racket that I turned my radio off.
You'd think that those professionals would be better trained. I-35 was
right under me, and since from that I knew that I was on
course, I went right on up into the clouds. After all, it was snowing so
hard by now that it was a waste of time to look outside, you
could only see about a quarter of a mile. Going into the clouds was a bad
thing to do, I realized, since my neighbor undoubtedly
wanted to see the scenery, especially the snow cover on the Arbuckle
Mountains ahead of us. But everyone has to be disappointed
sometime, and we pilots have to make the best of it, don't we?
It was pretty much smooth flying, and with the ice and snow that seemed to
be forming all over the windshield, there wasn't much to
see. I will say that I handled the controls quite easily for a pilot of
only six hours. My computer and pencils fell out of my shirt pocket
once, but sometimes these things happen I am told. I don't expect you to
believe this, but as one time my pocket watch was
standing straight up on its chain. That was pretty funny, and I asked my
neighbor to look, but he just kept staring straight ahead with
sort of a glassy look in his eyes. I figured that he was afraid of height,
like all non-pilots are. By the way, something was wrong with
the altimeter. It kept winding and unwinding all the time.
Finally I decided we had flown about long enough to be in Oklahoma City. I
had it all worked out on my E6Bcomputer. I am a whiz at
that computer, but something must have gone wrong with it, since when I
came down to look for the airport there wasn't anything
there except a lot of houses. Those weather people had sure been wrong too.
It was real marginal conditions, with a ceiling of about
100 feet. You just can't trust anybody in this business except yourself,
right? Why, there was even thunderstorms going on, with an
occasional bolt of lightening. I decided that my neighbor should see how
beautiful it was, and the way the lightening seemed to turn
that snow on the roof tops all yellow; and the rooftops were so close that
it looked like you could just reach out and touch them. But
guess he was asleep, having gotten over his fear of height, and I didn't
want to wake him up. Anyway, just then I had an emergency,
the front engine ran out of gas. It really didn't worry me since I had read
the book, and knew right where the other ignition switch
was. I just fired up the spare engine on the back and we kept on going.
This business of having two engines one in front and one in
back, is really a safety factor. If one quits, the other is right back
there ready to go. Maybe all airplanes should have two engines.
You might suggest this and get an award (we could split the cash).
As pilot in command I take my responsibilities very seriously. It was
apparent that I would have to go down lower and keep a sharp
eye in such bad weather. I was glad that my neighbor was asleep because it
was pretty dark under the cloud, and if it hadn't been
for the lightening flashes it would have been hard to read the road signs
through the ice on the windshield. The landing lights were
not very bright either, You would think they would have melted the ice that
covered them but they didn't. Several cars ran off the road
when we passed, and you can sure see what they mean about flying being a
lot safer than driving.
To make a long story short, I finally spotted Tinker Air Force base, and
since we were already late for cocktails and dinner, I decided
to land there. It being an Air Force base, I knew it had plenty of runway,
and I could already see a red colored light in the control
tower so I knew they were still celebrating Christmas and we were welcome.
Somebody told me that you can always talk to these military people on the
international emergency frequency, so I tried it, but you
wouldn't believe the language I heard. Those people ought to be
straightened out by somebody, and I would like to complain as a
taxpayer. Evidently they were expecting somebody to come in and land,
because they kept talking about clearing the airspace for
some damn stupid incompetent SOB up in the clouds. I wanted to be helpful
so I landed on the taxi way to be out of the way in case
that other fellow needed the runway. A lot of people came running out
waving at us. It was pretty evident that they had never seen a
Skymaster land on a taxi way before. That General with the nasty temper was
real mad about something. I tried to explain to him in
a reasonable manner that I didn't think the tower operator should be
swearing at that guy up there, but his face was so red that I
think he must have a drinking problem. Well, that's about all. After you
two FAA inspectors left, the weather got really bad so I got
one of the Air Force guys to drive me to where I could rent a car to drive
back home. I never did get my steak and drinks. My
neighbor stayed there at the hospital there in Oklahoma City. He can't
write you a letter just yet because he's still not awake. Poor
fellow, he must have the flu, or something. Let me know it you need
anything else, and by the way, send my new pilot's license
airmail special delivery.
Very truly yours, Thurman J. Mudbojne