Well, the "Ides of March" have passed us by. Spring has helped me by increasing my energy level. Today is Saturday and the work party at Horn Point (to which I might have taken the Luscombe), has been cancelled due to rain. It's not raining here yet. I just went out and moved the VW bug out of it's rickity old garage into the hangar. I didn't want to do that in the rain. I have something I am going to do on the VW.
As you know, I don't do mechanic type work. I am going to put on my vintage tags. License plates. Maryland is one of a very few states where you can run vintage tags. Of course you have to comply with a wee bit of red tape and pay a $25 one time charge. Over the Internet I bought a set of 1970 plates for the 1970 VW. Then I had to go to MVA/DMV and comply with the red tape. Now I just have to install the plates. I also have to carry the "real" tags with me in the car. The car is blue with white seats. The tag is white with blue lettering. I think it will look pretty sweet, but the tags are a bit yellowed because they are 43 years old. So that's the geezer plan for today. Exciting aye?
It's interesting. Airplanes age differently from cars. A 1970 car is a classic and we like to see them on the road or at the Dairy Queen. Chevelles and Mustangs etc. They are old cars. But I have 2 airplanes: one a 1946 and one a 1969.
Nobody in aviation or in the work-a-day world really thinks about those planes as being "old planes". They are my planes that I use to go flying for fun or to get somewhere. The fact that the Luscombe is 66 years old rarely comes up. If I give a "civilian" a ride in the Luscombe, it's an airplane ride. Not "OMG look at that relic!"
Let me go a step further. I flew my last DC-9 trip in Nov. of 2004. The passengers and crew were riding in an airliner that was well over 30 years old. With a major airline. In Maryland a car is officially "historic" if it is at least 20 years old! The passengers were just going A to B and wanting to be on time. Nobody thought "hey I'm riding in an historic airplane".
By the way, my last leg as a DC-9 captain on November 9th 2004 was from Flint, Michigan to Detroit. A distance of 49 nm! The exact same distance I will fly my Luscombe one week from today when I go to the Bonanza fly-in brunch at Wildwood NJ. It starts at ten AM. Maybe I will see you there.
GAI :::::+:::::
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I love reading your blog. I will be home just in time for summer. I think all the time about our day of flying last summer, just you and me in the cherokee and the luscombe checking out the beatnik sky divers in Laurel, DE. One of my favorite flights in a long time.
Your post reminded me of a flight I had last year. I flew, and dropped live bombs, from a hornet that was made in 1983. 1983! All the troops that worked on that plane thought it was the coolest thing. Thinking of you and my Dad, I kept thinking, wouldn't it be cool if we could find a 1983 Datsun 280z to park next to it. But it is almost impossible. It is hard enough to see a corvette or camaro from that year, let alone a Z!
Hope to fly with my favorite instructors Uncles Paul, Lou, and Clark soon . . .
George
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