Scudrunners

You're not going to believe me, but the first thing I had to do, was pull out
a six inch thick seat cushion from the rear seat (really):



I needed a BFR. You guys in Canada probably won't understand, but every
two years, you have to spend an hour on the ground and an hour in the air
with a CFI, who endorses your logbook. Doesn't matter if you're Chuck Yeager
or Rob Holland, everyone has to do a BFR.

Instructor said, Let's take a B. This FBO has two B's and a C. The other B
is owned by some Google billionaire?

Anyways, I said, Hey, I have some waivered airspace. CFI says really? So
my BFR today consisted of surface acro. I did some, he did some, in the
warm sunshine in the central valley. While he was flying, just before a pull
I said, You're being paid to do this! He laughed. As Finnegan says:



Thanks to an incredible guy called Wayne Harper that you have never heard
of - Arlo hated his guts, so you know Wayne was a great guy - in Canada the pilot
is waivered for surface acro. Not the airspace. Can you say, Noise complaints
boys and girls?

Anyways, Tom's old S-2B ran fine. He taxiied it into a wall, once, but it's a nice
B, even if I am not a fan of the paint scheme, which makes it look like a major
appliance. Pro Tip: that's not going to fool the wife. At least, it didn't keep Nicole
Kidman happy.

Cross-thread note: Tom flew the S-2B for a while, then moved onto the P-51.
I honestly think your pilot skills are improved with 1000 hours over 10 years in
a Pitts. Or maybe even one of those composite monoplanes, which you probably
love if you carry a plastic pistol.

Isn’t he around 5’2” ?

A bit tall for an actor but with camera angles everyone in the movies is the same height.

Actually, a lot of really good pilots were midgets. Mean little guys make great fighter pilots,
and they can pull more G. Really.

I know. Check out the Mercury seven.

I didn’t adjust the seat, but when I sat in Bob Hoover’s P-51 there was no way I could have closed the canopy.

My son’s bestie is a small guy. One day he was complaining about it and I told him. It might be better than being too tall like us. Do well in math and maybe you can become and astronaut.