The truth is that she was a better pilot.

Years ago (like around '79 or so), I was taking a basic aerobatics course at Boulder. About that time, my first marriage was on the rocks, and one day I decided to fly down to Boulder on a whim and if my instructor was there, get up and do some stuff in the Decathlon. No such luck--I arrived, and besides the lollygaggers, there was this little woman in a baggy red jump suit. She said, "I'll fly with you." "Are you an instructor?" "Yup." Definitely not a conversationalist.

So we walked out to the Decathlon, preflighted it, and took off. Once into the practice area, she asked me to show her what I already knew, so I did a good loop, a couple of great spins with "competition" recoveries, and then a crappy roll. She said, "Let me have the airplane, and I'll show you what I'd like that roll to look like." Sudden transformation--that airplane was incredibly different in her hands.

So after an hour of me being a klutz and her showing me how to be smooth, we returned, she signed my logbook, and then she said, "Anybody here know how to hand prop? I've got to get going." I did, so we walked out to her Pitts, I started her, and she flew off to wherever.

I walked back into the office and said something like, "That's sure an odd little woman, but man can she fly!" One of the guys said, "Don't you know who you were flying with?" I hadn't looked at her signature, so "No, who is she?" "That's Betty Stewart--World Aerobatic Champion!"

Cary

Cary wrote:<snip>
I walked back into the office and said something like, "That's sure an odd little woman, but man can she fly!" One of the guys said, "Don't you know who you were flying with?" I hadn't looked at her signature, so "No, who is she?" "That's Betty Stewart--World Aerobatic Champion!"

Cary

Fantastic story Cary. Not Betty Skelton? She was quite independent spirit for her era too. She made the Pitts famous!

EB

Cary wrote:I walked back into the office and said something like, "That's sure an odd little woman, but man can she fly!" One of the guys said, "Don't you know who you were flying with?" I hadn't looked at her signature, so "No, who is she?" "That's Betty Stewart--World Aerobatic Champion!"

Ha! Awesome!

My "brush with greatness" stories are now humbled. (Ok, truth be told, they were always humbled...)

Cary wrote:

"That's Betty Stewart--World Aerobatic Champion!"

Cary

Now that's a story! I actually enjoy having my expectations confounded, and I think yours certainly were that day!

Nope, not Betty Skelton--never met her. And never saw Betty Stewart again. But I do prize her signature in my old log book--she used Aresti symbols to describe what we did--and I surely do wish I could fly with her skills!

Looking at the years, though, I must have flown with her in 1981, not '79. Just did a Google search--she won the World Aerobatic Championship in both 1980 and 1982. I'll have to dig out that logbook.

Cary

I think, too, that men are "shoulder to shoulder" and women are "face to face". We like to hide in our little corners and say what needs to be said (or typed) and then hit the "submit" button and be done with it. Women like to stuff as many as they can into the same chicken coop and have fifty different conversations at a time for three hours. That's not meant to be disrespectful, we're just wired differently. I can sit on a bench next to a male friend and not have to say anything for an hour and everything is still OK. Try that with a woman and you better get a box of tissues because here comes Niagara Falls!

CW

For sure, whether it's the Mars/Venus thing or otherwise, men and women are different. But as Maurice Chevalier was quoted as saying, "Viva la difference!"

Just checked my old logbook: My flight with Betty Stewart was on September 6, 1980. I've always thought of it as an hour lesson--she only wrote down .9. Oh well.

Cary

For those wondering about DotAK, she moved to Tenn. and married a very interesting fellow. She still blogs at http://wingandawhim.blogspot.com/. You can find a little more info. about her at bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com.
Apparently a match made in Heaven.

I am envisioning future heated debates on the 47" vs the 55" bush wheels, and why everyone should get a maule.

Tripacer is the new Maule.

I'm working on an STC to put those 55" ABW mains and a 48" nosewheel on a Tripe. That'll show those Maule-crawlers.