February 23, 2016 Lecture 473

The Liberty Gazette

February 23, 2016

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: The buzz and clattering sound outside were unmistakable. Distant at first, moving ever closer. Billy knew that sound and rushed outside his Friendswood home. Overhead, a yellow Piper J-3 Cub circled, the head of its pilot visible as he looked down on his pal, hollering, “Let’s go!”

Billy Faught raced out to the airport and met the plane piloted by his good friend, Chuck Emmett and the two flew on to Galveston to the Emmett family’s second home, on the bay. Chuck would deftly land the Cub on the sandy road behind the beach house and the boys would hop into a speed boat and spend the day water skiing.

Those were simpler times, Billy says today. “My dad got the flying bug and learned to fly at Genoa Airport. Most times I came with him. For me, there was no Little League; I grew up up at the airport.”

Genoa Airport? Yes, indeed. There was a Genoa Airport in Houston, and it was owned and managed by Charles Emmett, Chuck’s father. He and those who frequented the airport were like Benny Rusk, Earl Atkins, and others here in the beginning days of the Liberty Municipal Airport.

Chuck made the local TV news when he soloed four or five airplanes on one day - his 16th birthday - before getting his driver’s license. He and Billy had the run of Genoa “International” Airport, as they called it.

“But, it was expected that we would help out, too,” Billy recalls. “We were treated not quite like adults, but less like kids. We could do a lot of things, like ride a motorcycle, or the Ford tractor, or drive the boat, as long as we handled them well, the way Charles would himself.”

The Cessna 190 that smelled of leather, oil, and cigar belonged to Charles, the strong fatherly type usually seen in khaki pants and button down shirts with the top two buttons undone, hair combed and a Roi Tan cigar clamped between his teeth. He’d lecture the boys when he wanted something done. Lecture 473 meant cut the grass. One day, Charles wanted the boys to lift a low, sunken rail separating the parking lot from the rest of the airport. Billy and Chuck worked hard with a floor jack to lift it and then shore it up with bricks.

“After that,” Billy remembers, “when Charles started in on another lecture we just sighed, ‘Here we go, raising the rail again’.”

At night along the banks of the pond out back the boys went frog hunting with an old lantern. “We’d see a possum sitting on a log, and then we’d spot Charlie the alligator. Charlie would sneak up to the bank and with a flick of his tail, knock the possum into the pond - and then he’d have him.”

Stearmans, Beech Staggerwings, and Cessnas frequented Genoa “International”, and all of it made for a good growing up. But to Billy, the most magical time was Christmas Eve, when people flew in to visit family members, filling the atmosphere with happiness.

Chuck and his dad, and the airport are now gone. Mrs. Emmett tried to keep it alive but when a hurricane caused a lot of damage she finally sold it, and the fabulous growing up place became a sand pit, and later a landfill.

Billy would rather have seen it become a housing addition than a dump, and can’t drive by without shedding a tear when he sees those old rusting hangars, but his memories as the airport kid help keep Genoa International alive.

http://www.elyairlines.blogspot.com/

February 16, 2016 The Flying Queens

The Liberty Gazette

February 16, 2016

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: I heard about another gal named Linda who grew up in Oklahoma in a one-room house without electricity or plumbing. The house had a pot-bellied wood stove and the family had only one bed. Girls weren’t generally encouraged in sports back then. One woman recalls being told that if she ran too fast her uterus would fall out.

Determined to rise above the conditions into which she was born, Linda held fast to something she heard about when she was only six or seven: that there was a way to go to college and play basketball. There was this team in Texas, and they didn’t ever lose. Maybe someday she could play for them – the greatest basketball team ever.

Mike: At first they were called the Lassies, and when the local Harvest Queen Mill became their sponsor the team became the Harvest Queens. But when the mill’s sponsorship term ended Wayland Baptist College in Plainview needed support so they turned to a community leader and graduate of Wayland, Claude Hutcherson, owner of Hutcherson Air Service.

Claude had helped the team by providing transportation to far-away games, but his support would increase dramatically and for the next few decades the Hutcherson Flying Queens would earn a 712-106 record, including an astounding collegiate record of 131 consecutive victories, 10 AAU national championships and 10 second-place finishes.

Hutcherson got his start selling and servicing airplanes in Plainview, founding Hutcherson Air Service in 1948. This successful local businessman made a lasting and unique impression in women’s basketball history, but more importantly, he helped many young ladies reach goals.

Not only did he purchase uniforms and spiffy travel outfits, but he furnished four Beechcraft Bonanza airplanes to transport the team and coaches to games, piloting one of the planes himself.

Truly caring about the team he was adamant about safety. By one report, when he refused to fly in bad weather it caused him to miss his daughter's wedding when the team became stranded in Kansas City, Missouri.

Today, Hutcherson Center is the physical education center on the Wayland campus, home of both men’s and women’s basketball teams, and athletic department offices.

Many women have said they could not have gone to college had it not been for Claude. He not only helped provide for college, and basketball, uniforms and transportation, but even a winter coat if needed. He spent millions to help them, and in an interview said he’d do it all over again.

Linda: Claude’s widow published a book about the interesting life of her late husband so that their grandchildren and great grandchildren would know who he was. It may be hard to get your hands on a copy of "Reaching Goals: The life of Claude Hutcherson" because copies were printed mainly for the family, but there is also a documentary in the works. It’s called "The Flying Queens: A Basketball Dynasty" (www.flyingqueens.com).

After graduation from Wayland, Linda the basketball star gave her time to special needs children and advocated for improvements in mental health. She became the Administrator of the Harris County Psychiatric Center, and eventually held executive positions within MHMRA and the University of Health Science Center-Houston. The girl who grew up in a one room house without plumbing or electricity became one of Houston City Magazine’s "Most Powerful Women in Houston". While some of the credit goes to determination and great coaching, in this story aviation played an important part.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 9, 2016 The place that wasn't there

The Liberty Gazette

February 9, 2016

Ely Air Lines
by Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Scanning the dimly lit instrument panel as we cruise along in the wee hours of the morning, the radio is mostly silent and all that can be heard is the hissing and rumbling of air moving past our airplane traveling at eighty percent of the speed of sound. The lights of Las Vegas have recently drifted by the starboard side of the aircraft and we’ve been at 35,000’ for over half an hour on our regular Phoenix-Reno route. In the goopy black cloaked landscape below, small clusters of lights are sparsely scattered about. There’s one set of lights here, off to our right side, which I happen to know fascinates a peculiar group of people.

My co-pilot is busy filling out the aircraft maintenance log so I turn behind him and address our jump-seater.

"You see the lights out there?"

"Yep!"

"No you don’t. They doesn’t exist."

On the aeronautical charts (maps) for this area is depicted a dry lake, about 76 miles north of Las Vegas in the middle of restricted airspace; it’s Groom Lake, also known as Area 51 - "where they store dead aliens," according to some.

These days when I’m conducting a training scenario that requires a long runway I ask pilots the trivia question: where is the longest paved runway in North America? They usually answer with Cape Kennedy or Edwards Air Force Base. True, Edwards has a very long dry lakebed runway covering almost six and a half miles, but it’s not paved. Denver International’s 16,000’ Runway 34L is the longest at a commercial airport.

The concrete at Groom Lake, however, stretches continuously over 29,000 feet. It isn’t really a single runway, but four of them laid end-to-end. Supposedly, when one portion was opened others were closed. Satellite imagery shows the long runway is marked with X’s its entire length, meaning it is no longer in use. They’ve built yet another 11,000’ runway next to it.

I don’t know what spooky things happen there, but they say that while one test program is being conducted the people involved in others must remain underground or indoors with the shades drawn.

Legend has it that one day a Cessna pilot got lost while flying over the desert and wandered over the top-secret base, not depicted on his chart. Low on fuel and seeing this long runway, he took a chance and landed. Upon landing his plane was surrounded by high security types. With M-16s pointed at him, they hauled him away for interrogation that lasted three days. Finally deciding he was telling the truth about being lost, they fueled his plane, pointed him in the direction of Las Vegas and said, "Don’t come back."

A week later the same Cessna landed there again. As the enforcers surrounded the plane the pilot shouted, "Do whatever you want with me, but please tell my wife where I was for those three days!"

As I look at that "Classified" cluster of lights, the legend of the poor Cessna pilot makes me chuckle. How could they oblige, when this place "doesn’t exist"?

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

February 2, 2016 Sibongile the Lioness

The Liberty Gazette

February 2, 2016

Ely Air Lines
by Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: As a child, Sibongile Sambo gazed longingly skyward at planes that trekked aloft, imagining what it would be like to fly. Over her house they soared, and captured little Sibongile’s heart and mind. But careers for black women in South Africa didn’t typically include aviation, much less being the owner of a company, so she began to carve out a successful career in human resources.

Because she is bright and is gifted with ingenuity, Sibongile began building her reputation in the HR industry, but that all changed in 2003 when the South African government passed legislation designed to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds to step into the world of entrepreneurship. That’s when she saw an opportunity to jump into the world of airplanes, where she had always felt she belonged.

Lacking both collateral and experience didn’t deter this determined woman; there’s one thing this pioneer knew she had that had great value: her passion for airplanes.

In 2004 when she founded her company, SRS Aviation, in Johannesburg, Sibongile Sambo became the first black woman to own, 100%, an aviation start-up. They call her a Lioness of Africa. Helicopter tours and VIP chartered trips were among the first services offered. Her company now also offers aircraft maintenance, sales, and fleet management, and flies parts and components to others in the industry.

Learning aviation language offered her an exciting challenge. Profit margins have, too. But she’s up for the challenges and took that first step armed with nothing more than her passion.

She also credits the investment others made in her life for helping her be where she is today, and has already begun to give back by providing for three of her employees to obtain their private pilot licenses. She’s a trailblazer, leading the way for other black South African women to start aviation businesses, earning respect and admiration of people from all over the world.

Last year the Women in Aviation International conference was held in Dallas, and many women came from South Africa to learn and network. On the first day of the conference we woke to a significant snow fall, and all the African women, dressed in traditional colorful clothes, enjoyed snapping photos of the snow. One small group even came up to me and asked if they could have their picture taken with a white woman. These gals have more support than their mothers ever did, and they’re taking hold of the opportunities and making something for themselves. I have a suspicion that Sibongile had something to do with the group of women who came to Dallas last year. In spite of her busy schedule, somehow she finds the time to mentor others and devote time to motivational speaking engagements.

Her story inspires people of all ages and backgrounds, but she’s not one to rest on her laurels. She has plans to expand her business across Africa, where she sees growth in aviation, and has determined that not even the sky can limit her.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 26, 2016 Small airports give life

The Liberty Gazette

January 26, 2016

Ely Air Lines
by Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: The Red Barn restaurant had something to do with it - the peppermint ice cream, too; both are inviting to a young boy. Add the intrigue of activity at a grass airfield and the comfort of family Sunday afternoons and the result just may turn out to be the proper recipe for a future pilot.

For as long as he can remember Jason Talley wanted to fly. A smart kid, his grades won him scholarships, and within a couple of years of high school graduation he’d built and sold his first tech company. Four years and three more tech companies later, Mathematics degree in hand, it was time to take a hiatus, and learn to fly.

What would be next for Jason? Greater credentials to back up his experience building successful companies made law school a fitting choice. Besides, if he ever needed a fall-back occupation, he could always practice law.

After passing the State Bar in his home state of Missouri, he passed the Kansas and California Bars. Delightful west coast weather convinced Jason to move his family to California as he continued as a serial entrepreneur, all the while adding to his pilot certificate and ratings, finally earning the highest level pilot license and instructor certificates. Then he bought a jet.

When I asked what he’d want most for people to know about aviation he didn’t hesitate: "That a lot of general aviation pilots have a passion for not only flying, but doing things for others also."

Jason puts his passion to work, and makes a great example. With Veteran’s Air Lift he can get Vets to airports that don’t serve airlines and are closer to where they live.

"Our military veterans have given us the best years of their lives, and general aviation provides a mechanism where we can say ‘Thank you’."

Likewise, with Angel Flights, Jason helps bring people of all ages where they need to be for medical treatment. These special passengers don’t necessarily live far from a major airport served by airlines, but for many riding on an airliner poses a threat to their health, so private flying is a critical solution.

Donating time, fuel, money, and aircraft to fly someone who needs help is near to Jason’s heart, and has given him immense appreciation for small airports. "This outreach ceases to be possible when community airports don’t receive public support."

As a member of the Angel Flights Board of Directors, Jason especially appreciates the annual awards dinners.

"Its so neat to see our volunteer pilots at these dinners, where at each table there is also seated someone who has benefitted from an Angel Flight. When they share their story with the group, you know you gave something of immeasurable value to someone, to their family. Maybe it was a little more time, maybe it was another chance."

Giving someone something they may not have otherwise had, a chance for survival, or more time with their family, is as good for the volunteering pilots as it is for the patients and their loved ones.

As a businessman, Jason couldn’t do what he does with any efficiency if he had to rely on airlines. By flying himself he gets home to his wife and their young sons on his own schedule.

"That’s important," says the boy who loved Sunday afternoon family dinners at the Red Barn restaurant beside the grass strip where small planes took off and landed and the peppermint ice cream was the best in the world.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 19, 2016 Amy and Tracey

The Liberty Gazette

January 19, 2016

Ely Air Lines
by Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: When you visit the Wings Over Houston airshow you hear the announcer talk about vintage aircraft and military re-enactments helping to keep history alive. In addition to the critical roles that flying machines have held in times of strife and war, they’ve also ignited something deep inside many a pioneer, those with curiosity about the world in which we live. Today, these are the people who aren’t satisfied sitting at home watching television, but obey an inner appeal to discover, and to venture out, to unfamiliar places.

Alan Cobham flew across Africa in his Imperial Airways de Havilland DH 50J biplane in 1925 on just such a mission. Two years later the famed Charles Lindbergh piloted the Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic, and five years after that a similar flight was achieved by Amelia Earhart as the first female to navigate the airways across that ocean.

But in between these trans-Atlantic crossings by Lindbergh and Earhart was an admirable feat by Amy Johnson, who in 1930 had none of the modern electronic helps and gadgets we have today. Piloting an open cockpit biplane equipped with nothing more than basic period flight instruments - a compass to tell her direction, an airspeed indicator, and fuel gauges - she flew without autopilot, manually handling the airplane by stick and rudder.

Earlier this month fellow aviatrix Tracey Curtis-Taylor completed an intercontinental flight in a Boeing Stearman, an open cockpit biplane, following closely the path taken by Amy Johnson 85 years ago. Flying this short range airplane on a long range excursion meant frequent stops in some of the most remote parts of the world.

For three months Tracey relived Amy’s story of "dramatic adventure, reckless bravery and one of the greatest solo achievements in history."

The documentary that will come from Tracey’s ambitious tribute to Amy Johnson and many other courageous aviators of the early days will also provide today’s youth - the gaming generations - with living examples of real adventure: 13,000 miles across Europe and the Mediterranean, to Jordan and over the Arabian Desert, across the Gulf of Oman to Pakistan and over India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, crossing the Timor Sea to Australia. This is the spirit that paved the way for the air travel we know today.

To feed your own curiosity, I recommend her website, www.birdinabiplane.com, which is packed full of wonderful stories and photos that have come from this Canadian-born adventurist. From her first flight lesson at age 16 to today at age 53, Tracey has always found something worth flying for to complement the sheer joy of aviating. Actively giving her time and talents to a variety of population segments, she’s created a structured outreach program to lend her voice to aviation history, military families, youth education, help for the disabled, women in aviation, and one of her other passions, environmental conservation.

Tusk Trust, a UK charity that participates in wildlife conservation, communities, and education in Africa, gained her attention as an avid gemology and geography student with the unique ability to appreciate the natural world from the air, at low level.

One of the most treasured things about living in the world of aviation is the amazing people we meet. Most are incredibly humble and just strive to do what they can to make the world a better place - a good thing for all of us, where ever we may be.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 12, 2016 Modaero - for the Next Generation

The Liberty Gazette

January 12, 2016

Ely Air Lines
by Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: The "Golden Age" of aviation: the years when youngsters such as Dayton’s beloved Bob Jamison yearned for a taste of the adventure that airplanes promised, and brought new and exciting technology to eager young minds. Those in the freshness of their youth, the Clyde Cessnas, the Eddie and Katherine Stinsons, the Lloyd Stearmans and Glenn Curtisses, had been innovating and even the sky wasn’t their limit - it was their playground. And on the playgrounds across America’s golden plains, blue ridge valleys, deserts and coastal towns, the next generation was watching, and dreaming. Dreaming of flying. Dreaming how far they could go and the freedom that awaited them.

Aviation had another major surge lasting from the 1950s through 1970s credited in part to the introduction of jet engines, and the fact that after the fighting in Korea ceased lots of military pilots discharged from the service went to work for existing airlines or bought aircraft and started new businesses. Many of those small businesses morphed into major airlines.

Mike: By then there were plenty of people who got to liking airplanes a whole bunch and they started learning to fly themselves. Then they were buying airplanes and finding ways to make money doing what they loved.

Today, we find ourselves on the cusp of another opportunity for the next generation to take hold of the world of air travel and aerospace technology and disrupt the industry as the Wright Brothers did in their time.

We’re on the brink of exciting times, with space travel and inventions even Elon Musk hasn’t thought of yet.

That’s why "MODAERO" is an important project, reaching the next generation right where they are, and like many great projects, this one is getting its start in the Great State of Texas.

During Spring Break, March 16-19 the "MODAERO" event will be held at the Convention Center and airport in Conroe - the place to be for the Millennial generation and young families. A school ID will get the students in for free. But, you don’t have to be young to join in the fun - its a fly-in, too, with plenty of networking, happy hours, and General Aviation presentations as well.

Several bands representing a variety of musical tastes will be playing each evening. Helicopter and airplane demo flights will be offered. And there will be indoor drone racing in the arena across from the airport - an event so new this will be the first organized drone race of its kind in the U.S.A. - and its all starting here in Texas.

Employers will be on hand for a career fair and recruiting; highly acclaimed experts and peer group innovators will discuss today’s challenges and opportunities, and inspire our youth to consider the vast breadth and depth of everything that touches the aviation-aerospace industry, from flying and fixing planes to marketing, engineering, space travel, high-tech, entrepreneurship, and more.

Camping is also an option, so bring out the tent if that’s your thing. Check out MODAERO.NET on your computer or mobile device and make plans to discover the wide world above and beyond in this very social, high energy event.

Linda: And for those who would like to volunteer, just as with the annual AirVenture in Oshkosh, there are opportunities. Contact the group through the "MODAERO" website, Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram and get engaged.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 5, 2016 See ya later, alligator

The Liberty Gazette

January 5, 2016

Ely Air Lines
by Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: When traffic makes the map on my smart phone turn red I search for alternative routes home from Hobby Airport. It was on one such sojourn while driving down Genoa-Red Bluff Road shortly after crossing Highway 3 that I spied the rusting roof of a dilapidated hangar hidden among heavy brush and tall trees. They say the cure for boredom is curiosity; and there is no cure for curiosity - I had to investigate, because surely there would not be a building that was clearly once a hangar without there once having been an airport as its neighborhood.

Linda: To put some character to what Mike found, go back with us to the year 1892, when the world welcomed future aeronautical pioneers Bessie Coleman and Lawrence Sperry. One would grow up to be a world-famous aerobatic pilot, skydiver, and air show celebrity, and the first black female to earn a pilot license, and the other would invent the auto pilot, and a compact personal parachute that pilots could fit in a seat pack, and design retractable landing gear, among many other inventions.

The same year those two future inspirational aviators were born, J. H. Burnett was in south Texas establishing a very small town southeast of Houston. The climate reminded him of a place he knew of in Italy, so he made his new settlement its namesake - Genoa.

Not far from Genoa Dr. Willis King had already been busy promoting his community, which he named for his daughter, Almeda. The road connecting the two important railroad towns is still known as Almeda-Genoa Road. Genoa must have been an important enough place to reference, as Allen-Genoa and Genoa-Red Bluff roads came into existence.

The population grew in Genoa, Texas in the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, and Charlie Emmett opened up for business with Emmett’s Flying Service at Genoa Airport.

It is Genoa-Red Bluff Road that one would travel to get from the Genoa Airport to the Red Bluff Army Auxiliary Airfield, one of three auxiliary airfields built near Ellington, supporting Army Air Corps flight training activities.

Mike’s discovery is what physically remains of Genoa Airport, which isn’t much. When evidence of past eras begins to be erased, when only a couple of original hangars and some old photos and maps exist, there will still be stories to remind us of intriguing people and fascinating adventures.

One lady whose family was close friends of the Emmett aviation family, recalls a pond on the property where the airport sat behind the family home. In that pond lived Charlie the six-foot alligator. Many children's birthday parties were held by the pond and Charlie received his share of hot dogs. However, she says, they wouldn’t have dreamed of trying to pet Charlie; they didn’t want him to come too close, and throwing their hot dogs kept him at a safe distance.

Mike: Opening for business not long after WWII, Genoa Airport had as many as three different runways at one time, and several hangars lining the south and west sides. It existed, even thrived for a time under the busy traffic pattern of Ellington Air Force Base.

With the drop-off in flying activity in the late 1980’s the airport property was sold to the City of South Houston. And though it’s but a phantom existence today, no runways and a couple of corroded old hangars, I’d rather like to think of the days when would-be pilots learned to fly there. I’m sure it lives on in their memories.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 29, 2015 Long history takes pilot to short runway

The Liberty Gazette

December 29, 2015

Ely Air Lines
by Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: A few years into the Facebook craze I happened upon a couple who had been good friends of my father’s. We reconnected, nearly 40 years later, each of us with grandchildren and life stories to share to fill in that huge gap of time.

Jeff and Linda Bloom have always lived in Michigan, but I was hopeful I could see them again, soon. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that Jeff, a professional race car driver, was still racing throughout the midwest, and still winning, as he always did, and still carrying the same race number - #26. He’s been a formidable competitor all his life, a hard-charging racer who has earned great respect from fellow drivers because he drives a clean race and wins on amazing skill. It’s like he wears the race cars he drives, or maybe even the tracks on which he makes them glide. So when Linda Bloom shared the Must See RacingTV race schedule where I could watch Jeff race on TV, I was eager to find an opportunity to watch him race again - but I’d prefer in person.

The opportunity came in the summer of 2012 when I’d flown to Indianapolis to see family. The Blooms would be just a quick flight to the south in Salem, Indiana at the Salem Speedway, a high-banked half-mile asphalt track I had been to dozens of times as a kid. The Salem Municipal Airport is right next to the speedway, so all I had to do was land, tie down, and walk over.

Landing offered the first challenge. Not that a 2,700’ runway should be that difficult for a Grumman Cheetah, but I was a bit out of practice on shorter runways. The Liberty Municipal Airport’s current length is 1,100’ longer than Salem’s.

After circling above the track to see some action from the air, I entered the traffic pattern but came in a little hot on final and used up most of the runway getting stopped without slamming on the brakes. No one was in sight so I just tied the airplane using the ropes in an open tie-down spot, and trudged across the weedy, rough ground between airport and speedway.

Race ticket prices have gone up in the last 40 years, but the money collected contributes to the purse so I didn’t mind. The pit pass I purchased allowed me to cross the track - literally - which gave me a chuckle as I reminisced walking across that track at that same spot so many years ago. A guy who stands at the guardrail-gate lets people cross when the cars are between practice sessions.

Making my way across the sloped track to pit row I searched for the older versions of a couple who had been very dear to me for most of my life. Soon I spotted Jeff, and then Linda, and the reunion was almost surreal, having been so long coming.

Jeff had mechanical problems that day, and my time there was much too brief as I had to return to Indy, but we made the most of what we had and I am so glad I made that flight down to southern Indiana that day.

One month after that quick visit Jeff was in a terrible, fiery racing accident that gave him broken bones and third-degree burns. Tough fighter that he is, and believer in prayer, Jeff recovered and was back racing seven months later, and inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, which is exactly where he belongs. My father knew that many years ago, when Jeff was a young 20-something. Dad used to say, "Now there’s a real race driver."

I miss my dad, so when the Blooms mailed a gift to me, it was extra-special, a symbol of relationships that last: the last Christmas card my dad had sent them before he passed away, which they had saved for 15 years.

How time flies.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 22, 2015 Santa's helpers

The Liberty Gazette

December 22, 2015

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Santa’s helpers don’t always dress in red velvety elfin-wear. Sometimes their attire is a more of a blueish-purple, or brown hue. It’s peak season for the elves of Federal Express and UPS; the latter now forecasting delivery of 430 million packages this Christmas.

What a busy and challenging time of year this is for all air freight operators and pilots. The work increases 60 percent over other times of the year so the companies hire seasonal labor to handle the volume of packages. About 50,000 people are working temporary jobs with UPS to help deliver or work in sort facilities such as Louisville, Kentucky and Rockford, Illinois. FedEx’s seasonal work means lots of jobs in Memphis, Tennessee.

Tonight their company jets will fly thousands of gifts from regional distribution and sort centers in major cities to hub cities, and then transfer all those presents to other cargo jets as "feeders" bound for smaller cities, and eventually drivers will haul them in trucks to their destinations underneath Christmas trees across the country.

Pilots on the feeder routes will fly a split morning and evening shift, making their way out from the regional hub with several stops along the way, arriving at the outstation by mid-morning. Then in the evening the crews will hopscotch back to the regional hub, arriving in time for the packages they’ve picked up to be put on bigger jets departing for the major sort centers.

During the three months leading up to Christmas Santa’s pilots get to log a lot of flight time to help move the excess volume. By the time Christmas Eve rolls around, some freight pilots have pretty much maxed out on the number of hours they can legally fly for hire during the year.

The freight carriers try hard to deliver all packages labeled "Christmas" by Christmas Eve. This year UPS says if a package gets in their next-day-air system by December 23rd, they’ll deliver it in time for present-opening.

One Christmas Eve, because all my fellow company pilots had reached their legal for-hire flying limit, we, the Learjet crew, ended up flying into smaller airports where jets don’t normally land.

At the airport in Payson, Arizona just as we finished unloading the boxes a local law man stuck his head in the door of the airplane and began his inquisition.

"Excuse me, but do you know how fast you were going when you landed?"

"We crossed the fence at 123 knots."

"Hmm, that’s what my radar gun said, too."

He’d been having coffee at the airport cafe, heard us announce our arrival on the airport’s radio frequency, and he and his friends dashed out to clock us with his radar gun on our approach and landing.

"Well seein’ as it’s Christmas and you being Santa’s helpers and all," he grinned, "I guess I’ll let it slide this time."

We ended up back at the Phoenix airport late at night on Christmas Eve, exhausted from several weeks of intense flying schedules, and after 15 years of this I can tell you that on Christmas Day Santa isn’t the only one settling down for a long winter’s nap. Most of Santa’s helpers do, too.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com