AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018 - 24

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT

Happy birthday, Dad
Barnstorming to 80 on a day of aviation and fun

RICHARD MCSPADDEN

has logged more
than 4,500 hours in
30 years of flying.

EARLIER THIS SUMMER, my dad departed solo in his
beloved Navion from Crystal Village Airport (2FL0)
near Chipley, Florida-a magnificent 3,500-foot-long
grass strip, his new airport home. More than 50 of us
looked on with admiration, pride, and the joy brought
by watching someone engaged in what brings them
so much fulfillment. I asked to fly with him, as did my
brother and a couple of his buddies, but he rejected us
all-stating he wanted to make sure it was known that
he alone flew himself into the Octogenarian Pilot Club,
on this, his eightieth birthday.
It morphed into the kind of day that makes general aviation such a rich experience. Several of my
dad's friends flew or drove in for the event, and new
friends opened hangars and homes along the strip.
People wheeled out grills and served lunch with fresh
watermelon. Soon, airplanes emerged from nearby
hangars. A T-34, Piper J-3, Van's RV-6, and Navions
took to the air exposing nonaviators to the joy of flying, and importantly, the joy of being a part of the
aviation culture. My brother gave Waco rides, barnstormer style, with me acting as his "scooter," loading
passengers. Many people commented on how "you
pilots are an awfully fun group"-a refrain I've heard
many times through the years.
At some point during the day, I met the first
female F-35 pilot. Having recently retired from the
U.S. Air Force, she's returning to her roots in GA and
flew some patterns with an instructor in a beautiful
RV-6 she recently bought. Her two young daughters
played with several other children, launching foam
airplanes. Mom, smiling nearby, was a silent and powerful role model.
I lost track of how many sorties were flown: at
least eight in the Waco, several in the Navion. I flew
a J-3, a Waco, and had a special checkout with retired
airline captain Jimmy Hunt in his 300-horsepower
T-34. From the backseat, Hunt offered just the right
tip at just the right time to help me adjust to the airplane. I got the hang of the T-34 and Hunt tried his
best to jinx me all the way down final-explaining
he'd never seen anything but a beautiful landing in
this T-34, and, oh, how easy it is to land this airplane on all of this beautiful grass, and wouldn't it
be embarrassing if I bounced one in front of all these
people. I disappointed him with a respectable landing, which he immediately attributed to the softness

24 | AOPA PILOT September 2018

BY RICHARD MCSPADDEN
Executive Director
AOPA Air Safety Institute

of the grass. We taxied in, canopy open, still laughing
with and at each other. My dad made several flights
on his inaugural day in the octogenarian club, and finished the day flying his 300th Young Eagle.
Like most of us who've flown a great deal, dad has
found himself in a square corner occasionally. Such
as the time weather was below forecast and low on
fuel, after several missed approaches, he finally broke
out under the weather and landed with only a skosh
of fuel remaining. He's carried extra fuel ever since.
Or the time, not long after buying his Navion, a magneto went bad just after takeoff. At heavy weight on a
hot day, he recognized the problem, isolated the good
magneto, and with reduced thrust-using small rudder inputs, slowly, gingerly coaxed the Navion around
the pattern, delayed his gear extension until he could
glide in if need be, and landed safely. His training and
his knowledge of his airplane were key that day. He
knew to work his magnetos, and slow flight training taught him that an overbank could be disastrous.
Knowledge, good stick and rudder skills, and confidence brought him through.
For the last decade or so, my brother and I occasionally fly with Dad, and discreetly (so we thought)
look for any deterioration of skills as he ages. One
day after such a flight, over a few beers in the hangar, Dad looked at us and said, "I know what you boys
are doing, and I'm glad you're doing it." Lately he's
begun self-selecting out of some of the more challenging areas of single-pilot flying. He doesn't fly solo at
night or solo IMC anymore. Both wise decisions that
help explain how he's gained more than 6,000 hours
in 40 years of GA flying, accident free, and been the
aviation spark for two sons, two grandsons, a granddaughter, and counting.
We could not have asked for a better day to celebrate 80 years of a full life, 40 years of safe flying, 35
years of that in his beloved Navion. In my dad's eyes,
God most certainly flies a Navion. The day closed, we
pushed the Navion back into the hangar, and watching in the shade nearby, was my mother, who put the
whole day together, not just by organizing the party.
It was she who gave him a single flight lesson as a
Father's Day gift some 40 years ago. And look at what
she started.
AOPA
EMAIL richard.mcspadden@aopa.org

AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2018

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