Do you believe in love at first sight? Or, perhaps more fitting, love at first flight? Arlene Maksymicz of EAA Chapter 846 sure does! The love affair started when the Liberty Ford Tri-Motor made a stop at the Wayne County Airport (KBJJ) in Ohio in September 2019. Since that day, Arlene has now sat right seat in the Tri-Motor numerous times (and awaits her next opportunity).
Arlene tried to explain what it is about the “Tin Goose” she loves so much, but as many of us are stumped on the exact reason we love to be airborne, she also struggled to find the words. “I don’t know, it was just something about it. I can’t even explain it in a rational way. … But sometimes you’re either some place or something happens, and it just feels so right… that’s how it was with me and the Ford Tri-Motor for some reason.”
In 2019, Arlene brought her mom, Susan, and her sister, Kathy, to the airport with her, but neither of them was planning to get in the air like Arlene. The organizers needed two more people to balance the airplane, though, so Kathy convinced her mom to give it a shot. Arlene was elated when she looked behind her spot in the right seat to see event staff helping Kathy and Susan, who was 97 years old at the time, into the back of the Tri-Motor. “We think my mom was about four or five years old when they built that plane. And there she is, riding it in 2019. It just seemed so special, you know?”
Arlene explained she was giddy before they even took off, “I know I was grinning ear to ear and acting like a total fool… [John Maxfield, the pilot] looks over at me and he said, ‘Well, you could at least pretend to be having a good time!’… He knew.”
When COVID came around in 2020, the airport became a relaxing escape for Arlene and Susan. Arlene lives close to the airport, so they would bring a book or word search and watch the jets take off and land. “It was just a nice little time to get out and be together without going places then because we couldn’t take a chance with someone that old getting sick. … but she loved going up to that airport every day. It was fun for both of us.”
Sadly, Susan died in 2020, but still, she was right there with Arlene and her sisters at this year’s Ford Tri-Motor event at KBJJ. “I put her photo in my purse and off we went. My sister Kathy was there, and my sister Beth, she lives outside of Rochester, New York, came out to ride in it too,” Arlene said. “And so, we flew up and everything, mom was in my purse, and she got to fly again.”
Arlene attended each day of the event and purchased the right-seat ticket multiple times. She joked, “When the pilot this time asked me what my name was, I said, ‘Just call me Amelia.’” Arlene even got her own chapter name tag this year and proudly wore it every day, reported Gary Baker, the chapter’s treasurer.
This year, Arlene brought home her own piece of Tri-Motor history when she claimed victory on a bid war for a shadow box displaying a piece of EAA’s Tri-Motor from its restoration. “We rode almost every day that it was here, and then it got to be the last day… somebody bid a lot on it,” Arlene explained. “It happened to be August 20, the day my mom passed three years ago. So, I decided no matter what, we had to have that.”
“It’s hanging in what was my mom’s bedroom… it looks so nice and it’s just the whole history behind it. … When you’re riding in a plane that’s almost a hundred years old, and you think of all the people back then who rode in it, and people who took the time to put it all together again so it could fly. It’s just amazing that it’s still up there doing what it does.”
Arlene and her sisters returned to KBJJ the day after the event to join the crew in pushing the Tri-Motor out of the hangar and wiping it down, “It was cool to me, but a lot of people wouldn’t think that was too exciting to be wiping down a plane. … Actually, that was one of the best parts for me because you were touching it. You were doing something with it. It was amazing… I love that plane.”
Arlene is a retired high school teacher and expressed her appreciation for EAA’s mission to bring aviation to today’s youth. “How wonderful the people in the EAA… to make this event happen. People look forward to it. Some of the people were older veterans from a war, other people were getting on with canes, and there were a lot of little kids who were going for rides with their parents. And you never know, someday they could be flying it.”
The Tri-Motor Heritage Foundation in Port Clinton, Ohio, is currently restoring another Ford Tri-Motor to flying condition, and you can bet Arlene is already looking forward to sitting in its right seat.