Comments on: A Pilot Reflects, Then Grounds Himself: 1911 http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/01/07/archives/post-perspective/paying-price-learning-fly.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=paying-price-learning-fly Home of The Saturday Evening Post Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:02:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 By: Richard Partridge http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/01/07/archives/post-perspective/paying-price-learning-fly.html/comment-page-1#comment-207002 Richard Partridge Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:49:52 +0000 http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/?p=47723#comment-207002 Today I have thousands of hours flight time beginning with a two-place 65 HP wood and fabric Taylorcraft in the mountains of Utah to supersonic jet fighters.
However, my most unforgettable moment in flight was in a Civil Air Patrol Piper Cub out of what was then Salt Lake City Municipal Airport. I was home on leave from US Navy flight training where I had learned a little about aerobatic flight, and I decided to do a loop in that little old Piper Cub.
I dived it to the “redline” speed then pulled it up and over the top where I was virtually weghtless (and witless), then down the other side of the loop. I can still hear the creaking of those old fabric-covered woodframed wings, and swore I would never do it again.

]]> By: Ima Ryma http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/01/07/archives/post-perspective/paying-price-learning-fly.html/comment-page-1#comment-205006 Ima Ryma Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:37:46 +0000 http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/?p=47723#comment-205006 Pilot, Eugene Ely, brought to
The U.S. Navy, firsts of flight.
First shipboard landing he did do,
And first takeoff from shipboard site.
Early 1911 ’twas
When Ely flew, a pioneer,
Giving the crowds such oohs and awes,
Watching him soar the atmosphere.
‘Twas late 1911 when
Crowds did watch his plane in a dive,
Easy fix for Ely, but then
The crash. Ely did not survive.

Eugene Ely lived and died of
Airplane flying, which he did love.

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