Queen City

An older gentleman came to the FBO door just as I was locking up on a Sunday. He asked what planes we have to rent, so I pointed to the C172 on the line and handed him one of the postcards I use to provide information about Sally. He mentioned that he was from out of town, here on a business trip but would like to get a flight in if he could find the time. He was familiar with light airplanes and has flown an Aeronca "Champ" at his home airport. I said "my number is on the card, call me if you want to arrange something".

That evening my cell phone rang after 9:00PM. At my age phone calls at this time of the night are usually not good news. Caller id was California. He apologized for the late call but asked if we could fly on Monday at noon.  If the weather was good I said we would go.

He arrived a little late, stuck in traffic on Rt309. We sat at the picnic table as I explained what I planned to cover on our Discovery Flight. He had other ideas and asked if we could go over to Vansant (9N1) and Queen City (KXLL). Well, with the recent rains I didn't want to land on the (possibly soggy) turf at 9N1 but said we could do a low pass. KXLL would be fine.

The winds were starting to kick up a bit. After some taxi practice on the runway so he could see how to control a castering nose wheel, I made the take off  and gave him control once leaving the traffic pattern. He did well with basic maneuvers as we wandered over to the Delaware River. We used that as our base leg and I talked him through the low approach. We departed and headed over to Queen City. "This is much more complicated than I had thought. I had no idea what a modern LSA was like." Although I discussed the avionics and demonstrated the GPS, this flight was more about the scenery so I made sure to point out the various landmarks. I could see him loosen his grip on the stick as he became more comfortable with the controls. He was starting to "feel" the airplane.

Sally warned us about the high cell towers on the ridge at South Mountain. We entered on a 45° to RWY25 following a DA40. That traffic forced us to get a little deep but he handled the situation well. Winds were gusty but the touchdown was good. I asked when was the last time he had made a landing. "Oh about 6 months ago." I said "No, about 5 seconds ago, you did this one all on your own!" He grinned.

It turns out he had made his first solo flight out of Queen City 50 years ago. I'm so glad I could participate in this home coming.