The boring part is that there were about a dozen of us out to fly this morning into 8 mph winds nearly down the runway. Lots of the same old stuff- flying, laughter, bursts of pure joy, kind of a “sittin on the dock of the bay” day (Otis Redding,1967). You know, just a great day with great friends.
That is until Mike Light began a series of airshows that had the peanut gallery sucking air with gasps of terror. First, he flew his electric Radian sailplane which flew nicely and climbed high and swiftly. Then the show began. Somehow, through no fault of his own, he ended up in an outside loop, inverted about 20 feet above the pits with lots of speed. Remember Mike was flying a sailplane. With amazing presence of mind, Mike pushed in full down elevator with only about 3 feet of altitude left, causing the plane to climb out inverted into a hammerhead stall just above the frequency board area. That was followed immediately by a dive straight down, which Mike pulled out of just inches above the ground. Gasps were followed by cheers from the lawn chair crowd. Mike then flew to a comparatively uneventful landing just south of the peanut gallery.
The spectators thought this was to be the highlight of the day, but that wasn’t the end of it. After tweaking the engine of the P-51 that he got from Larry, Mike decided to bring in a supporting cast member to the show. He asked Paul if he wanted to maiden the P-51. Paul said, “No, but I will”. That was the beginning of nearly the end of the P-51. The Mustang blasted up, up, and away as Paul put it through it paces. I wasn’t paying much attention until I heard that unmistakable sucking, gasping sound again come from the old goobers. I looked up just in time to see the P-51 doing the Funky Chicken at low altitude just off the north end of the runway. Superior airmanship is all that saved the old warbird. Up and down, all around, right, left, upside down, right side up, with Paul quickly slamming the sticks to save the day. Then the Mustang plopped down gently onto the runway right in front of the pits. The gasps turned into rounds of applause and cheering, whooping and whistling, with the gallery guys so excited I wasn’t sure their advanced years could sustain that level of excitement. Wow, another airshow brought to us courtesy of the Mike Light Aerial Circus. Paul proved once again that he’s the go-to guy for maiden flights, but he’s got a few more gray hairs to show for it. Mike checked his shorts twice today, but it sure was exciting for the rest of us who figured we’d have just another regular old same-o, same-o flying day.
It was another great day in paradise- one we’ll sure remember.
Clem