By Colten Coughlin, EAA 1265230
In 2019, I volunteered as ground crew at a glider contest for fun. I was 15 and a glider student who always dreamed of flying and only recently was able to get into it. At the contest I met a lot of really great people and specifically, Mitch Hudson, EAA 1233521. He asked if I wanted to go with him and a bunch of other pilots to dinner. Well I didn’t have anything to eat, so I said sure! That was the first time I met him.
A month or two later, I soloed. I got a call from some random number and didn’t answer. A text from the same number said ‘Hi Colten. It’s Mitch Hudson. I met you at the glider contest. Good work on the solo tonight. Please give me a call when you are done debriefing.’ When I got home I remember my parents acting really weird. I was confused. But I gave that number a call. Mitch and his wife picked up and told me he has a Schweizer 1-26 (sailplane) that he’d like to give to me!
I was so excited, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I was constantly wanting to know more about it. I lived in Wichita, Kansas, and the glider was in Moriarty, New Mexico, it hadn’t flown since I’d been alive, but it was still nearly in flying condition. Two months later, we were able to go down to Moriarty to get the glider annualed (Mitch paid for that as well), and take it home! After getting it home, we took it to the gliderport and I did three flights that day. Not a good soaring day, but I just had to fly it! I was still a student pilot, I was 15 and I owned a glider! I was ecstatic! Now, I have flown that 1-26 a lot!
Mitch helped push me along in aviation. I just got my powered certificate a bit ago, and am working towards my commercial. I plan to fly crop dusters, and hopefully own an operation in the future. I plan to continue soaring, and eventually, pass the 1-26 on to a teen to help push him or her along into aviation. It can be hard for youth to get into aviation and every bit of help goes a long ways. Another great mentor, Phil Olson, EAA 103818, let me use his Cessna 150 for flight training, free of charge. Without either of these great men, there’s no way I would be where I am today.
The 1-26 that Mitch gave me, S/N 358, was owned by the Air Force Academy, and they painted it up like the Thunderbirds! Cool paint scheme with some history!
