Bygone days revisited
Hey POGgers,
Janet and I have been at Outdoor Resorts Indio for the month of March. Several times a biplane has flown over the resort. This thing is beautiful. It flies by so slowly, and the radial engine has that special sound, kinda like the special sound an 8V makes. I remarked how cool it would be to take a ride in that thing. We celebrated our anniversary on the 25th (37 years), and she got me a ride in "that thing". Turns out it's a 1941 Stearman and is based at Bermuda Dunes airport, a short drive from ORI. I met Mike the owner/pilot at 10AM and he got ready for departure. I was really amped for this. Never flown in an open cockpit before, never used a stick before. The wind was blowing about 15 right down the runway. With the wind and the lift from both wings we were off the ground in no time. Just putting along, we made 650 feet by the end of the runway. The view in every direction was spectacular. Mike leveled out at about 1400 feet and we cruised along at 85 knots. At that point he let me steer a while. We flew due west out to Palm Springs, turned a 180 and headed back following Hwy. 111. He took the stick back and made a couple of nice hard turns. No acrobatics though, that costs extra!! What a great experience. It's not hard to figure out the love a barnstormer had for one of these planes. They are very special. I had a grin on my face the whole time.
Thanks Janet, you rock!!
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