Usually, writing an aviation blog means working hard to find a subject that is fresh, important, and interesting. This week a fourth-grade kid could find enough to write several such blogs.
Stealth tech is increasing. Neil Armstrong was robbed of a gold model of the lunar module, and Aviation Week &.Space Technology reminds us of the U-2 airplane history.
Hey, folks, I remember the U-2 myself. Makes me feel old, but, shoot, I am old!
One thing I learned today is that the first takeoff of the U-2 was an accident. The pilot—a famous test pilot—wasn’t supposed to leave the ground.
I did that once. Not in a U-2, of course, but in a cropduster in the mid-1970s. My tailwheel flying totaled about eight hours in a Taylorcraft airplane that was little, light, and low powered. I had been hired to sell cropdusters and my new boss told me to crawl into a Cessna AGtruck and taxi up and down the runway.
I did. It was fun. I got cocky. I taxied faster, then raised the tail. Damn, I was getting’ good at this!
Then all hell broke loose. The mild crosswind got under the wing, I swerved right, corrected, then swerved left. I couldn’t get it to stop, but as I swerved again, I firewalled the throttle and flew off. I was flying a cropduster!
I had not preflighted this plane because I hadn’t planned to fly it at all. The front end of the plane looked like an aircraft carrier. I hadn’t checked the oil or fuel, nor did I understand the power, speed, or flap settings.
I decided to make one attempt to land in that crosswind. If that failed I would fly up the highway to Tupelo, which had cross runways.
I did the best I could on that attempt to land. I had a massive grip on the controls. I thought I was surely gonna die.
To this day—over 40 years later—it was the best landing I ever made. Beautiful. I did not die. I did not wreck the aircraft. Life was great again.
Where/when did this happen? I ain’t telling, but there is one hint in the blog. I’m just tickled to report that I was once a test pilot myself. There is only one seat in each agplane, so each time you fly a different make or model, you become a test pilot.
NOTE: If any of this story includes something illegal, I was just lying! I do that a lot. Besides, it did not take place on your airport. I swear it didn’t.
