July 5, 2011 Inyokern

The Liberty Gazette

July 5, 2011

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely


Mike and Linda Ely would like to thank Bob Jamison for venturing across the page to fill in this space while Linda was out racing and Mike was cheering her at the finish line.


Mike: Before the first rays of light started to change the black sky to a lighter tone, I had already spent about 45 minutes doing a preflight inspection on the Piper Lance and loaded it with about 750 lbs. of bank mail. I taxied out from the ramp and advanced the throttle to call all 300 horses in the rumbling engine to life as the airplane began its takeoff roll.

The years have gone by but not the memories. After spending a couple years as a flight instructor I was hired by a freight operator based in Burbank, California. Working my way up through the pilot ranks with this company I first flew Piper Arrows and Lances, then twin-engine Piper Chieftains, then turboprops like DeHavilland Twin Otters and Beech 99s. My final years there were spent crisscrossing the country in the middle of the night in Learjets.

Departing Burbank to the north, I’d cross the ridge as the horizon became bright in the morning light. Soon after I’d descend to an airport just south of the restricted area surrounding Edwards Air Force Base, home of the US Air Force’s Flight Test Center and NASA’s Dryden Research Center, touching down at Lancaster Fox Field about 6:30 every morning. I’d meet two other airplanes and a number of drivers where we would exchange some bags and then continue on our way.

Leaving Lancaster and accompanied by a co-worker in another Lance, the route I flew took me through the Military Operations Area (MOA) adjacent to the restricted airspace. Even though it isn’t restricted itself, the MOA was busy with military airplanes, even at that time of the morning. I’ve seen SR-71 Blackbirds, U-2 Spy Planes, F-4 Phantoms, F-14, F-15 and F-16 fighters, F-111, B-52 and B-1 Bombers and a few things that I can’t even tell you what they were.

After crossing through the MOA I would cross Mojave Airport and proceed into Inyokern Airport just a few miles south of China Lake Naval Weapons Center. On approach to the airport I liked crossing low over the rising terrain near a particular mountain. This mountain has holes in it on several sides and the angle of the sunrays at this time of the morning allowed me to look down inside the huge rock, hollowed out by gold miners some fifty years before.

As I landed at Inyokern, the pilot of the other Lance continued up the Owens Valley which sits between two tall mountains ranges with peaks in excess of 14,000 feet. He eventually landed at Mammoth Lakes Airport at 7,500 feet above sea level where he spent the day. Leaving Inyokern I crossed mountains and headed for Tonopah in the Nevada desert and then would fly to Mammoth too. We were the first flights up the Owens Valley in the morning and the last flights down at night.

There were times when the weather was absolutely gorgeous and there were those times when it was absolutely vicious. It has been one of the most interesting places to fly and a place where I learned so much about flying, weather, and myself. As Bob Jamison wrote in this space last week, if I had to do it all over again, I’d say, “Sign Me Up!”

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

June 28, 2011 "Sign me up!"

The Liberty Gazette

June 28, 2011

Ely Air Lines
by Guest Columnist Bob Jamison

Linda and Mike Ely asked I step in their parachute harness and jot down a few lines along their very popular theme of flying. Linda will be out of town to compete again in the Women’s Air Race Classic that finishes in Mobile, Alabama. I’m honored by this and only hope it can in some small way do justice to their time honored articles.

~ Bob Jamison

The final semester for me in college presented an unusual opportunity. No, it wasn’t a big paying job because I had a promotion promised from my high school days as a janitor to a full grown teller’s job. That was quite a step up.

Speaking of stepping up, a neighbor down the hall in the school dormitory showed me a real parachute he had. It seems he borrowed it from his pilot dad. The chute was located in the bucket seat of a war weary Stearman bi-plane his dad purchased at a some kind of surplus auction sale. Later that same parachute came in handy.

As luck would have it, head of the athletic department of the college was a former air force pilot instructor. He had collected a few airplanes which he hangered at the Huntsville Airport. One was the famous Piper J-3 Cub; another was a Taylor Craft while a more advanced airplane was a sleek Globe Swift. Furthermore, he would teach any student to fly and earn his private pilot license at a very low cost. I signed up!

The Swift was built like a miniature P-51 I thought and was almost as beautiful to see it fly. But that airplane was off limits to us ‘kids’ as it was far too fast and the bottom wing with retractable landing gear was not for the green horn beginner.

The first flight was just a ride I figured. It was the practical approach from the ground school where you learned the air speed indicator, altimeter, rate of climb (or decent), RPM (revolutions per minute), needle ball & bank (turn coordinator instrument) and a few other rudimentary instruments, all without an electrical system whatsoever. The automatic pilot consists of your hand on the throttle, feet on the rudder pedals and eyes glancing at the instruments and on the horizon. As far as the parachute was concerned, it was the only way to hitch-hike a ride to the dorm because the airport was next to the prison. I carried the chute so folks could see I must be a pilot with no car. That would be right.

There were no head phones so the instructor shouted in your ear and tells you how stupid you were for trying to push the throttle past the ‘red line’ or pulling back the power to approach the stalling speed. The weather was hot and sweat was pouring down my shirt and my hands were wringing wet but I was having a ball even if my pals on the ground could hear the instructor yelling in my ear.

Finally, it was solo time meaning I had the thing all by myself for the first time. Boy, was it quiet and no hollering. Only the musical sound of the sixty five horse power engine. Afterwards, it was repetitive maneuvers, stalls, coordinated s-turns and touch-and-go’s (landing and take offs). What was best was the anticipation of solo cross country trips with airport stops at prescribed check points.

My instructor Mr. Joe Kirk, gave me some sound advice before I flew over to Lufkin, Texas for my flight test. He said, “You are going to mess up but I think you can pass. Remember this one thing and do not forget it. You keep that ball in the socket!!!” That means watching the turn and bank indicator ball that slides to one side or the other if your turn is not perfectly coordinated with stick and rudder. I passed.

Back at the hangar the check pilot, Mr. A. O. McQueen, was signing my private license. A roar was heard and an airplane barely made it over the roof and did a bouncing landing. We all wondered who that could be. The man flying the plane stopped, made a few circles in the runway and stopped again. ‘

Get in my pickup boy; let’s go see what is the matter with that guy. The pilot was so drunk he couldn’t taxi the plane. How he landed it was a point of amazement. We put him in the pickup and I taxied the plane to the hanger and tied it down.

After the fourth cup of coffee, he said he was an airplane mechanic that did an engine job for the owner but he couldn’t pay for it. So, he signed over the title to the mechanic. I bought it for the price of the bill which was a bargain, and flew it home the next day after graduation. That is, I owned an airplane before I ever owned a car.

After several glorious flights a freak storm wrecked the plane while it was tied down. But I already had my eye on a Stearman bi-plane a farmer bought from one of those surplus auctions but never learned to fly. One of the crop duster pilots was a former navy fighter pilot in WWII. He told me to buy it and he would teach me to fly the Stearman. But he also gave me a severe warning of its narrow landing gear, its weight and tricky stall characteristics. He was right. It took me almost as long to solo in that airplane with his help as it did for me to solo in the Cub.

One trip I made in that old Stearman was to Kingsville, Texas. The late Don Shilling was my passenger in the back open cockpit. The airport in Kingsville was huge. It couldn’t be the town airport, I thought, so it must be the navy training base (which it had been). I saw another airport farther west so I landed there. Here came a jeep with two guys carrying Winchester rifles. “What are you doing landing here? This is a private airport of the King Ranch!” I yelled back over the sound of the plane’s engine and said, “If you move that jeep over a little I’ll be out of here in one minute; and I was”. Flying back home was uneventful until I got to the west edge of Matagorda Bay.

Again, the plane was a military trainer with no electrical system, no radio, no nav-aids, only a compass. Fog and rain was coming in from the gulf and visibility was limited. I could see the ground now from only 500 ft to remain below the fog and rain. Then the land turned to water. The water turned to blue waves! I’m over the gulf now I knew. That perfect maneuver all pilots remember is the 180 degree turn (straight back from where you last saw land). Then I just followed the coast line for a happy landing back home.

What a blast! Looking back over five decades, flying has been a spectacular experience. It is sometimes challenging, often relaxing and always enjoyable. If I had to do it all over again I would tell Mr. Kirk, “Sign me up”.

June 21, 2011 Flying Farmers

The Liberty Gazette

June 21, 2011

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely


Linda: Friends of ours are selling their beautiful 1948 Luscombe 11A. Their recent post on an aviation Internet group spurred some chat about Luscombes in general. One member reminisced about the more utilitarian interior of the first Luscombe Sedans (Model 11) with their removable rear seat for hauling cargo, such as milk cans. He claimed that when the Flying Farmers market went bust, Luscombe sharpened up the interior to the same level as higher priced cars and called it the 11A. His comment spurred me to do a little digging on the Flying Farmers. To my pleasant surprise I learned they are not “bust.” True, the group has a much reduced membership from its peak in 1977, thanks to increased fuel and operating costs, more restrictive federal regulations, and product liability litigation (lawyers, that is). But there are still farm families who rely on their airplanes, and still enough of them to have annual conventions, scholarships, a magazine, and a website with great historical information, from which we get the following interesting stuff.

Their Cessnas, Beechcrafts, and Pipers are no different from their combines, tractors, and pickup trucks. After all, flying farmers’ airplanes are workhorses too, for hauling supplies, checking irrigation systems, and compressing the time between the farm and parts store. Even some real estate agents take customers up to show them land from the air.

Now called the International Flying Farmers (IFF) the Wichita, Kansas based group began in 1944 in Stillwater, Oklahoma when H.A. "Herb" Graham, director of Agricultural Extension at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, and Ferdie Deering, farm editor of the Farmer-Stockman magazine, traveled across the state meeting with farmer-flyers. They came across wheat farmer Henry G. "Heinie" Bomhoff, a “colorful character,” whom Graham and Deering thought would be an ideal subject for a magazine feature.

Mike: Out of that interview Graham and Deering learned there were many other farmers who owned and used airplanes in their farming and ranching operations. So they began meeting and by the next year, Dec. 12, 1945, the National Flying Farmers Association was incorporated in Oklahoma. They helped develop tax rules on equipment deductions, renter's insurance for pilots, and the specific design of aircraft for aerial applications (crop dusters), as opposed to modifying existing war-surplus or passenger aircraft.

The FAA had not yet complicated airplane ownership. Farmers fixed their own airplanes and their own tractors. If they couldn't find a part, they made one. During harvest time, they would land in the fields to talk with the harvesters, or in pastures during calving time to check on their livestock. One husband-wife team used its Piper to locate 200 prized Herefords scattered throughout a thousand-acre pasture. That colorful character, Heinie Bomhoff, became the group’s first leader. He had 4,000 hours logged, most of it flown less than 100 feet off the ground while hunting coyotes. A self-taught flier, Bomhoff shared his passion, teaching some 200 of his neighbors to fly.

They used their airplanes to deliver groceries, mail, livestock feed, and at least once, a subpoena via air drop. The airplane continues to serve as a farm workhorse, and we’re happy to report that the International Flying Farmers continues as well. You don’t have to be a farmer or a pilot to join. Check them out at www.flyingfarmers.org. 

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

June 14, 2011 Big Muddy Inspiration

The Liberty Gazette

June 14, 2011

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely


Linda: One week to go to the start of the 2011 Air Race Classic. A recent email sent by ARC officials included the reminder of our responsibility as ambassadors.

This year the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama has created an impressive program to broaden horizons of children served by the Clubs. Adopt-a-Pilot will match youngsters with pilots; the goal being to encourage them to think large, and never think anything is unreachable because of economic or family circumstances.  Most of these children haven’t been exposed to aviation. Inger Anderson, Director of Operations of the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama, is the coordinator of this program. She and other Club leaders began last year planning monthly outings for their youth members. Pilots met the children at the airport and beyond the activities was encouragement to follow their dreams. The Adopt-a-Pilot program culminates at the end of this year’s Air Race Classic, which will terminate in Mobile. Fifty teams are competing this year, and each is assigned two children from the Boys & Girls Clubs. We’ve been given their names, ages and Club email addresses and have begun conversations with them. We were told this is the first time that a majority of them have even heard of e-mail. When the race ends, they will be at the finish line, and we will all get to celebrate together.

Mike: The other racing group we’re in, the Sport Air Racing League, recently completed the fifth race in this 20-race season, in Carbondale, Illinois. Race Director Sam Hoskins named his race “The Big Muddy Air Race.” Sam posted a comment on our group page that he received from his friend Mark Pearson, a staff psychologist at a state juvenile facility. The facility is located right off the end of Carbondale’s Runway 24, the departure runway they used for the race. Mark wrote, “I was running a group when your planes flew over my institution. I used it as an opportunity to talk about goal setting, path planning and opportunity in this country. Congrats!” Mark’s big congratulations wasn’t just for Sam’s second-place finish, it was also a recognition of people who as a group are generally willing to share their passion to encourage others.

Mark later told us that his discussion with the teens essentially led to Sam being such a "get it done" kind of guy. Mark noted when he was at an age often tempted into delinquency he had already planned on being a dozen or so different things. He said, “I only became a psychologist because I failed the vision tests to attend the U.S. Naval Academy.” So he was stunned that the typical delinquent either had one totally unrealistic "plan" for his future ("I'm gonna play in the NBA" or "I'm a rapper") or swore they had never given a thought to goal setting, let alone path planning. Using Sam and our racing group as examples, Mark encouraged the youth to do things; set a goal, create a plan and execute the plan, whether that is learn to fly, build a plane, organize a race, or something else.

Linda: Whether in southern Alabama, or flying over a delinquent youth camp in Illinois, or in our own neighborhood, we have opportunities to do good, sometimes without knowing who we may be influencing. As Sam said, “You just never know who's watching.”

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

June 7, 2011 Dr. Suz Braddock

The Liberty Gazette

June 7, 2011

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Here it is, our deadline to send in some mix of the alphabet that we hope will tell an interesting story from the world of aviation. It just so happens I’m filling out a questionnaire right now too which I just received from a pilot friend who’s writing a book on “why we fly.” And somehow, it’s all related to breast cancer and poison ivy. I’ll explain.

I first met Dr. Suzanne Braddock as a competitor in last year’s Air Race Classic. Dr. Braddock, or Suz as she prefers, entered her Bonanza in the air race. It was her first air race. My race partner of last year is also a physician, Dr. Liza Kummer, an internist from Dallas. It seems this is the time of year that poison ivy begins its most potent attacks on me. Last year was the second of three Air Race Classics that I started the race covered in poison ivy blisters. Liza and I had just met Suz at the arrival hangar party in Fort Myers, Florida, and the two doctors consulted about the itchy rash that was driving me crazy and creeping towards my eyes. The oral medications were not on the FAA’s list of acceptable meds for flying, so I would have to rely on topical creams, and stay out of the Florida sun.

Not only did Liza and Suz have flying and doctoring in common, but each had battled breast cancer, so the two had much to talk about. When Suz received her diagnosis 19 years ago she discovered there was little to no help on what to expect. She’s a dermatologist, not a cancer doctor, so like other patients she did not know what lay ahead. What would happen to her? What would she look like after surgery? What would treatment be like? Unable to find any quick reference books to answer her pressing questions, disappointment growing as she searched for help, she determined to write a book of her own. Out of her fight has come, “Straight Talk About Breast Cancer: From Diagnosis to Recovery: A Guide for the Entire Family.” Her book is a guide for the whole family affected by breast cancer. It’s easy reading and includes inspirational messages from breast cancer survivors, and probably one of the most important features, eight pages of breast reconstruction photos to answer those pressing questions about what it’s really going to be like; straight talk.

Using her own experiences to help others, Suz says this book has been the most satisfying effort of her life. She updates the content every year or so as new information comes out, and all money received that’s not spent printing more copies goes to help breast cancer survivors. With over 100,000 copies sold, Suz hears from many women whom it has helped cope with the diagnosis.

Ironically, as I write my responses to Suz’s questionnaire for her next book, my experiences learning to fly, thoughts and opinions on aviation, and adventures since earning a pilot license, I am once again finding little poison ivy blisters popping up, and it’s just two weeks to the start of the 2011 Air Race Classic. But this time, thanks to Suz and Liza, my two air racing chick doctor friends, I have the cream that will stop the itch dead in its tracks. I’m ready to go racing.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

May 31, 2011 The 4G Network

The Liberty Gazette

May 31, 2011

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely


Mike: Often people ask us how a pilot knows things like how to land at an airport without a tower, and conditions in the air or on the ground that might affect our flight. Pilots are charged with the full responsibility of knowing “all available information” that affects their flight – all of it. So we have various ways of checking weather, temporary flight restrictions, closed runways, and much more. The Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) system provides a substantial amount of information necessary for pilots, but a current NOTAM that has been heavily in the aviation news of late concerns everyone, not just pilots.

That NOTAM regards some testing being done and states, “Airspace Global Positioning System is unreliable and may be unavailable within a radius of 175nm (of the GPS location, this one Las Vegas) from the surface to 40,000 feet and above. Pilots within a 175 nautical mile radius of the Las Vegas area are highly encouraged to report anomalies to the GPS signal during this test, 0700-1300 daily.”

So what’s going on? Well, it’s Washington. One government agency is at odds with another. Backed by the White House, the FCC recently issued a conditional waiver to a company called LightSquared allowing them to build and test a new wi-fi cell phone network transmitting on a radio band that is likely to interfere with the signals received from the GPS satellite network used for navigation and communications by aircraft, ships, the military, and even the GPS unit in your car. This is the “4G” network being promoted by cell phone companies; and interference with aircraft navigation has already been reported. The 3G network does not interfere with the GPS signals because it uses different technology and radio bands.

The waiver given to LightSquared has industry members and government officials leery of this “highly unusual” FCC action; and the steamrollering is fully supported by the White House.

Linda: GPS was developed by the military to enable aircraft to be guided without the need for ground based navigational aids. They own it but they have made it available to the civilian world. Russia, the European Union and even China have launched their own satellites into space. All these systems have the potential for being affected by one or more of the 40,000 planned antennas of this new 4G network. If the proposed wireless network is proven to cause interference and then allowed to continue development, small airports like Liberty’s would no longer have instrument approaches available for pilots to land during bad weather.

Politics are a devilish thing (that matches my opinion of most politicians) but a guy named Mike Turner who chairs the House Armed Services Committee on Strategic Forces has criticized the FCC for issuing this waiver. He told them that when it comes to GPS, they must consult with the Defense Department on any effects, and he included a requirement in the National Defense Authorization Act soon to be voted on that “Congress be notified of any widespread interference to GPS caused by a commercial communications service.” How would you like to be on an airliner that suddenly loses all navigation, and is in the clouds, zero visibility, on an instrument approach? They’re playing with people’s lives and it is our hope that wisdom will prevail and keep our skies, our national defense, and our way of life safe from those driven to control and destruct.

May 24, 2011 Homer the Airport Bird

The Liberty Gazette

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely


Linda: The town of Courtland referred to in the following story is in Alabama home of the late-October Tennessee Valley Air Race, Speed Dash and Punkin’ Chunkin' Contest (where the pumpkin I tossed totally missed the port-a-potty). This story originated from airline pilot Chris Murphy, who, along with his cousin, Jim, hosted that race. In January this year Chris countered the cold drizzle and darkness with a little off-season humor within the Sport Air Racing League.

“I'm at Courtland for a few days helping out and saw a funny thing today,” Chris posted on our Sport Air message board. “We're all in the office and I hear a pecking noise on the door that goes into the hangar. Jim says to open the door, Homer wants out. So I open the door and into the office walks Homer the pigeon. He walks right past about four of us to the outside door and waits for someone to open the door and let him out. He walks out through the office and then comes back later in the afternoon and pecks on the glass door to get back in. I guess he has taken up residence. I told Jim when Homer tells his buddies about his digs he'll have a whole flock of them.”

League founder and Chairman, Mike Thompson, wanted to know if Homer the Pigeon might be SARL’s future mascot. Was he “a racing Homer? Clipped-wing Homer? Homer in a pylon turn?” Air race veteran Pat Purcell (that’s Patricia), chimed in with suggestions on photo-shopping a good picture of Homer, to which Chris obliged – Homer in goggles and cloth pilot helmet.

A couple days later Chris posted this update: “I am a little worried about Homer. He went flying this morning and didn't get a briefing. It’s Instrument conditions here and favorable for icing.” We held our collective breath awaiting further word on Homer, who eventually arrived safe and sound. Not too long after, Homer brought home a lady friend.

Mike: After recent deadly storms in the southwest, Chris, a self-proclaimed weather geek, said, “I have never seen anything like what was happening in Alabama yesterday! I sat at the computer watching Doppler radar overlaid on a map, feeding info via text message to my friends there who had no electricity and weren't getting any info from local authorities. After the initial squall went through almost every storm cell was tornadic. A very large tornado went just east of the airport at Courtland and unfortunately there was loss of life associated with that storm. The airport sustained some damage; one airplane has major damage, and the FBO hangar was damaged by flying debris. The airport is covered with debris that rained down. Homer made it back into the hangar before the storms hit but his lady friend was a casualty.”

They deployed an Aero Commander photo mapping airplane in support of FEMA to assess the damage. The storm that wiped out Tuscaloosa actually formed over the Russellville airport (which is Turn Two in our race there) and then moved east into Tuscaloosa.

We’re glad Homer made it home okay, but saddened by the loss of life. One of our fellow aviators is collecting and airlifting needed supplies into the area. Now that's a real homer.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

May 17, 2011 International Learn to Fly Day

The Liberty Gazette
May 17, 2011

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: This Saturday, May 21 is International Learn to Fly Day. Yep, there really is such a thing, and yes, it is international.

The plan for an annual Learn to Fly Day was announced at EAA’s AirVenture Oshkosh in 2009 as a cooperative effort set in motion by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) of pilots, companies, governments, and organizations in countries around the world to raise interest in flying and encourage current pilots to get others involved in aviation. We have already seen the incredible success of the flight introduction program Young Eagles since 1992, thanks to EAA, and this brings us another way to introduce the world of aviation to more folks.

The EAA is asking the entire aviation community to participate; from individual pilots to flight schools, from flying clubs to aviation organizations, from FBO’s to the rest of the aviation industry. Everyone is encouraged to get involved on International Learn to Fly Day.

For pilots, it can be as easy as taking someone flying or as elaborate as hosting a fly-in. Our goal is simple: introduce someone new to aviation. Take a trip down to Ellington Field and talk with some of the flight instructors at Flying Tigers. They’ll be happy to answer all your questions about learning to fly.

Weather permitting, we’ll be in Indianapolis this weekend to meet with volunteers and fly and evaluate the course Mike designed for the Indy Air Race. It’s shaping up to be a big event in a town that loves racing of any kind. The county airport nearest my sister’s house will be hosting International Learn to Fly events that day also, and have asked us to stop in and “share the spirit–take someone flying.”

Learning to fly, says EAA, “immerses you in new sensations and allows you to conquer exciting challenges. It changes how you perceive yourself and what you know you can accomplish, opens up an escape from the two dimensional world, and takes you to a place with new perspectives. Suddenly, distances shrink and you are no longer limited by your cares, concerns and duties on the ground. Learning to fly frees you to explore the world and expand your horizons–the distance is your decision.”

Mike: Barrington Irving comes to mind. Now in his mid-twenties, he was the youngest person ever, and the only black person to fly solo around the world. Barrington heads up an organization that encourages youngsters to follow their dreams, called “Experience Aviation.” Growing up in Miami, Barrington thought the only way for a young black man to get out of his circumstances would be through a football scholarship. But one day an airline pilot walked into the Christian bookstore where he worked after school, offered to show young Barrington the cockpit of an airplane, and from there, his life took an amazing turn. I ran into him while at a fuel stop in Raleigh-Durham and had a nice chat. It’s efforts like these, by people like Barrington, and groups such as EAA that open doors some people never realized were there.

Linda: Many an aviator quotes Leonardo da Vinci, “When once you have tasted flight you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Here’s to blue skies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

May 10, 2011 Lauren Jones, Young Aviatrix part 5

The Liberty Gazette
May 10, 2011

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: The only thing left to change on the Jones family Beechcraft Bonanza was the paint, and little Lauren kept her hopes that the airplane she was used to would not be changed any more. Here we go with the fifth and final (for now) segment on this precious young aviatrix.

“I really liked it the way it was,” eleven-year old Lauren says with the fondness of a friend. “It was orange and brown. I could tell it looked like the ‘70’s because I’ve seen some stuff from the ‘70’s.” An air traffic controller liked it too. At least someone sided with her. “He said it reminded him of when he was learning to fly.”

She cried when the airplane was taken to the paint shop, because after all, this was the last thing that had not been changed. But she knew the guys at the paint shop would take good care of it. She took pictures as keepsakes of the old familiar paint scheme she had come to love, saying, “I knew there was no way I could change their minds.”

While her beloved Bonanza was at the paint shop, she says, “I needed some comforting. So I went flying with our neighbor, Mr. Henry, in his Bonanza.”

Now, says Lauren, “the airplane has had so many changes.” Like the wingtips. “Dad bought them on eBay and he let me stay up late to watch the bidding because someone else was bidding against us, as Dad really wanted those wingtips. Finally, he just put in a high amount. I guess the other person gave up,” she says, smiling so proudly of her dad. The new tips, Lauren explains, “make the airplane lighter, so it can carry a little more weight.”

What’s it like to grow up in an airpark? “It’s really fun. The fly-ins are fun at Dry Creek, but it is starting to attract more people. We do Young Eagle flights.”

And what else does she enjoy flying? “Helicopters are okay. I kind of like them because you can go straight up.”

I am convinced that Lauren’s attitude, her charm, and encouragement from the older people who surround her will contribute to great accomplishments in the future. The young lady knows the ropes when it comes to hangar flying. As she puts it, “we just sit around and talk about the neatest airplanes.” It’s not the kind of thing one usually hears from an eleven-year old girl.

Mike: It will be awhile before Lauren is ready for college, but when that time comes, she is hoping her dad will have another airplane, so she can have the Bonanza. “It’s the airplane I’ve flown in all my life and it’s very special to me,” she articulates diplomatically, “but I know it’s special to Dad too – he’s used to it, so I might have to be the one to have a new airplane because he might have a hard time [parting with it].”

Lauren is filled with a wonderful spirit and whatever her future, airplanes and aviation will continue to be part of it. For her, the skies are unlimited and the horizons endless.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

May 3, 2011 Lauren Jones, Young Aviatrix part 4

The Liberty Gazette
May 3, 2011

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: We’re on the fourth installment of our chat with eleven year old aviatrix Lauren Jones, whose cheerful nature is infectious. Could there be anything about flying that’s not just perfect for her? Well, yes. Flying over and seeing damage from Hurricane Katrina made her sad. But closer to home, she misses her sister, Amy, who will soon turn 10. Lauren and Amy are very close, but Amy prefers other activities. “I really miss her when Dad and I go out flying. We have so much fun and I wish she was with us.” But Lauren understands that people have different interests. During the Young Eagles day in Pearland, Amy opted to attend a birthday party, while Lauren declined invitations to two birthday parties with her best friends Hallie and Trina, in favor of working at the Young Eagles fly-in with her dad. She shared a story of when the whole family flew to Little Rock to see grandparents at Christmas time. “I sit in the back when Amy comes along, because she doesn’t like it that much. So I hold her hand, and help her. One time we had a little turbulence, and all the boxes of Christmas presents that were stacked behind us toppled over on us.” Bumpy air is the kind of stuff Lauren takes in stride because it’s just part of flying. “One time we had some turbulence and it was kind of like being on a roller coaster,” she says with a grin. “When we dropped down everything came flying up – even the dirt we had tracked in when we got in the airplane!”

Linda: Looking out the hangar, past the picnic tables and chairs, the grill with hotdogs and hamburgers, and parents waiting for eager kids in their first flight, Lauren gazed at her family’s Bonanza, into which Dad (Stephen) was loading another child for a Young Eagles flight. With a nod toward her plane, she said, “You know, our Bonanza hasn’t always looked like this.” Pen in hand, I knew there were more stories coming from our young friend.

“They were rebuilding the engine when I was in Kindergarten,” she says. I sensed a little melancholy but wasn’t immediately sure why. Clearly the new engine was a good thing. “I got to change the oil,” she says proudly. “When the new engine came, that was a big day for me, because you know in Kindergarten you don’t have homework,” so she could be around to watch. She was even able to engage Amy in the fun by playing in the box and the Styrofoam peanuts. And being near Dad is a significant part of what draws her. “Dad built a cubicle in the hangar for me so I could sit there and draw and be close to him while he put in the new engine.”

Next came a new interior. As she began to talk, I heard the disappointment she had experienced. “The seats were already nice, the interior was nice, but I guess it needed to be replaced. But when it went down for that, it was down for three months – and that,” Lauren says with heart, “was hard on me.”

Lauren is a precious young lady, full of adventure and spunk, kindness and compassion. Check in next week for the final part of this series on a unique girl with a passion for flying. Until then, blue skies.

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