By Dave Hirt, EAA 611961
As aviation people, we know that what we have inside is special. We know that not everyone else has it and frankly, we can’t understand why, but we know that what we have we are quite passionate about. It almost leads to the conclusion that we must be born with it and for many of us, it is a lovely terminal disease. We will have it until the day we die.
Now along comes Lily. She got her first airplane ride at just over 2 years old on a B-737 going to Florida. Looking out the window over the wing, she thought it was cool to see sun on top of the clouds, with trees and cars really small. She is of course a little chatter box so upon exiting the aircraft, a flight attendant offered her a cockpit tour. Taking her by the hand, they walked up front and opened the door together. There she stopped in her tracks shaking her head and said “Nope, it’s dark and there are pirates in there.”
She has been to my hangar a couple of times and knows about my airplane. She was too small to take her up so I took her for a taxi ride on her mom’s lap. It was a tight fit for a C-150, but we stayed on the ground and she did get a “ride.” Later that year, in talking about going to the airport, she insisted that she come with me. I said “no you can’t come because I don’t have a car seat in my car.” At 3 years old, she went out to her mom’s car, unbuckled her car seat and dragged it by the straps all the way across the parking lot and put it in by back seat. “Can I go now?” Well, I have this soft spot in me for little girls and especially those that like airplanes, so we went. I taxied over to the fuel station, put gas in it and taxied back, while she played with the headset and listened to the AWOS. Now when making a trip to there we can no longer use the word airport, so we talk about it over her head and call it the place that sells avgas instead — and that works, at least for now. If you mention airport, she will be coming along.
Time has passed now and I took her for her first flight. As you know, things look quite different from the air, and although I was pointing out very familiar things to her, she just couldn’t recognize the Wal-Mart, the Kroger store, her house with her mom’s car, and the new barn. That was last year. This year, we were barely off the ground when she spotted her house with the car, Dad’s big red barn, and other things and constantly babbling about how awesome it is and how you can see everything!! Everything!!! “Can we fly over my school too?” Enthusiastically jabbering and singing all the way, non-stop. Several times I had to tell her to be quiet so I could talk to the other airplanes. She was way beyond ecstatic and can’t wait until she can reach the rudder pedals!
This is going to be a very fun year!