He did the trip two more times, once in a brand new 182 and once in a new V-tail Bonanza. He lived down there for 30 years or more, and flew all over the country landing on dirt and grass strips to inspect various commercial operations for his banking job. He hadn't been flying in a small plane as a pilot since 1995, and when we told him we had a '52 170b, his eyes lit up and he said, "Would you be willing to take me up flying?"
He met us at the airport this morning and he walked around the airplane with me as I did the pre-flight. He asked all kinds of questions about the airplane, the 0-360 upgrade, flying in Salt Lake City's airspace,etc. Then we pulled the airplane out, hopped in and took off. He didn't want to take off or land, he hadn't flown a taildragger since the 70's, but he wanted to have me do a couple of touch and goes just to get the feeling back. He followed me on the rudders, and I actually made a pretty decent landing the first time! After that we flew off to the practice area and I let him fly. We did S-turns, 360's, a few Lazy-8's - it didn't take long for him to get the feeling of flying back. It was a great time!
After the flight, he pulled out a picture from his car of his 170. Cessna used the plane he bought in their advertising when it was new. That was pretty cool. As we left, he said he wanted to start flying again, but that he'd have to convince his wife first!
Doing the Pre-Flight
Flying the 170b
Uncle Bob showing me pictures of his 170A
Noreen and Uncle Bob
Blue skies and buttery smooth air!
Final for runway 12
