By Ted Luebbers, EAA 875984
Paul Adrien, EAA 150040, is a soft spoken man that you would not realize has a wealth of knowledge and experience when you first meet him, unless you happen to mention airplanes.
He is a retired optometrist who hailed from New Hampshire and Massachusetts and moved to the Grand Island section of Eustis, Florida, with his wife Barbara in September 1999. He spent two years in the United States Air Force as an optometrist before opening his own practice in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1972, then later moved it to Methuen, Massachusetts.
As a kid he built model airplanes which showed an early interest in aviation but really didn’t get to scratch that itch until he completed his stint in the Air Force. Then there was no holding back.
He took flying lessons at the Lawrence, Massachusetts, airport and received his private pilot certificate in June 1974. He got his commercial ticket and instrument rating in 1975 and a multi-engine rating in 1979. He owned and flew several different planes during this period but in 1980 he made the decision to build his own airplane.
He did not choose to build a conventional plane but one that at that time was considered a bit unconventional: A Long-EZ.
This homebuilt is designed for fuel efficiency and long range flight. It is set up for a pilot and one passenger and is powered by a Lycoming O-235 air-cooled flat-four, 118-hp engine. Paul’s Long-EZ has a maximum speed of 205 miles per hour and a cruise speed of 165 mph.
It took Paul 18 months to finish building the Long-EZ, and he completed it in March 1982, making his airplane 36 years old. He has more than 2000 hours flying time in it so far. It was the 13th Long-EZ to be constructed out of hundreds built since then.
After finishing the Long-EZ, Paul teamed up with the Northeast EZ Flyers and flew in air shows around the Northeast doing formation flying and flight demonstrations. Paul appeared on airshow entertainment schedules with aerobatic pros like Bob Hoover and Patty Wagstaff, EAA 200806.
Paul’s connection with EAA began in January of 1980, about the same time he started building the Long-EZ, and has continued for nearly 40 years. Paul has flown his Long-EZ to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 10 times. He joined EAA Chapter 534 at Leesburg International Airport in September 1999 after moving to Florida, and currently serves as one of the chapter board members and its program director.
Paul enjoys getting his hands dirty rebuilding aircraft engines or building airplanes. Every Thursday morning members of Chapter 534 convene at their hangar at the Leesburg Airport to work on homebuilding projects. Paul’s knowledge and building experience is much appreciated by those members who are starting new projects or have to solve a technical problem with an airplane they are working on.
He is also one of the chapter’s dependable Young Eagles pilots. To date he has flown 68 kids in his airplane. It is interesting to watch the reaction of the young people when they first see Paul’s Long-EZ because it doesn’t fit the image of what they had expected to fly in. They recognize that it is something unusual, and they can’t wait to give it a try.
When he is not involved with an EAA function or project you will often find him flying around the state of Florida with his wife Barbara looking for an airport with a good restaurant close by. Paul says they try to do this at least once a week, weather permitting.
Barbara is not a pilot but enjoys flying just as much as he does. Because the wing of the Long-EZ obscures the ground view from the rear seat where she rides Paul installed some Plexiglas panels in the floor of the rear cockpit so she can get a better view of the ground — one of the many benefits of experimental aircraft.