How can airport kids be an endangered species, he wonders. At any given time, the Poplar Grove Airport, outside of Rockford, Illinois, has around a half-dozen kids on the payroll. Scott is just one of them, and his job description is eclectic. "I fuel planes, check the oil, cut the grass, wash airplanes, shovel snow, plant trees, paint," he says. "You know, whatever needs to be done."
More important than the work are the friends he's made, friends of all ages with all kinds of airplanes. And a lot of them offer him rides. The Waco UPF-7, a round-motored biplane similar to a Stearman, and the Piper J-3 Cub are at the top of his "cool airplane" ride list. "But I'm still waiting for a Beech 18 ride," he says about the number-one airplane on his list. "Maybe this summer," he says, wistfully.
When he's not filling them with fuel or riding in them, Scott is learning to fly airplanes. "I should solo and finish my private pilot training this month," he says. Scott trades some of his paycheck for flying lessons, and he also saved enough last year to buy a car (and pay for its insurance) "so I can get back and forth to work."
Scott is taking his training in Poplar Grove's Cessna 140, the tailwheel predecessor to the Cessna 150/152. With 7.5 hours logged, he was about ready to solo last year when fall turned to winter, and the 140 went into the shop for overhaul and refurbishment. Sitting perky on the ramp, the 140 is almost ready to fly again.
Moving around the airplane with the sure steps of a wrestler, Scott crouches and reaches out his arms to point out the work he helped the mechanics do. "There's no better way to learn about airplanes than by taking them apart and putting them back together again better than new," he says. He just cut out the patterns for the interior, and when it, and the ailerons, elevators, and rudder are installed - "we'll both be flying again."
Scott took his first ride in a glider just before his 14th birthday. "I was playing hockey in Chicago," he says, when the family drove past the gliderport in Hinckley, Illinois. "It looked like fun, so I talked my dad into stopping one day. Then I started lessons, and soloed during my 15th summer. I hope to take my checkride this summer."
Knowing how to fly a glider has really helped in his powered-airplane training, Scott says. He knew what all of the flight controls do, especially the rudder. But it's also been a hindrance. "My instructor always says I'm too fast and too high on landing," he says. "Compared to the glider, the 140 is squirrelly, and more of a challenge, and that's why I like it so much - and because it's getting me ready for the Stinson."
Scott's dad, Randy, is an avid pilot and is Scott's aviation inspiration. When Randy was younger he owned a PT-26, a World War II open-cockpit monoplane trainer. But when his work took him to Arizona, Randy sold the airplane and stopped flying. ("One of the biggest mistakes I've ever made," he says.)
When Scott voiced his interest in flying, Randy's interest reawakened - and he wanted another airplane. But with a family of five, the airplane had to be affordable, Randy says, and that meant a rebuilding project - a basketcase.
They settled on a 1948 Stinson 108, a four-seat, high-wing taildragger powered by a Franklin engine. Scott found the airplane in Trade-A-Plane and made the first call. When the deal was completed, Scott and his dad drove to New Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and brought the airplane back on a trailer. "We had a great trip," Scott says, "and you wouldn't believe the looks we got from the other drivers."
Restoring the Stinson is a family project, and the Gaddini boys, Scott and his younger brothers Mark, 14, and Danny, 13, are usually in their hangar every weekend. Their mom, Betty, is there, too. On this February weekend, their hangar is thick with the smell of paint stripper as Scott's dad and brothers work on the horizontal stabilizer. Scott will join them shortly and apply the skills he learned while helping with the restoration of Poplar Grove's Cessna 140.
Their goal is to fly the Stinson to the 1998 Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to celebrate the airplane's 50th birthday. But right now that's looking shaky. The airplane needs more work than they anticipated, Randy says, "but we're going to try, and if we don't make it, we'll be there in 1999 for sure."
Another reason the Gaddini family decided on the Stinson was Scott's other aviation mentor, Rod Marshall, a captain for Delta Airlines. "He has a Cessna 120 on his private strip," Scott says, "and he got me interested in old airplanes."
Rod Marshall also has given Scott some career aspirations. "I'd like to be a professional pilot and fly for the airlines or a corporation, maybe." College definitely is in his plans, and he'd really like to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy or the U.S. Naval Academy. He didn't say so, but he seems to be leaning toward the Navy. "Flying off an aircraft carrier would be a really cool challenge."
If Scott Gaddini is anything like the Poplar Grove airport kids who've come before him, he'll achieve his goals. Two of them are finishing their first year at the University of North Dakota, and another has one more year in Southern Illinois University's aviation degree program. Scott has an idea of where he wants to go, and right now he's taking the steps that will get him there. And those steps include more than earning his private pilot certificate with glider and airplane ratings. They include the important knowledge that airport kids everywhere learn - that pursuing an interest in airplanes can open up a world of opportunity.
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