Brian Bell |
Stop by the Sentimental Journey Fly-In in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, one of the largest fly-ins on the East Coast, and you'll see dozens of airplanes with tents pitched under their wings. Now look at the blue and yellow Taylorcraft parked close to the showers. It's got a veritable maze of pop-up tents positioned by it. This small tent city belongs to Brian and Ruth-Ann Bell of Branchburg, New Jersey, and their five children.
The Bells have been coming to the June fly-in that celebrates Piper aircraft for years, and they're usually among the first to arrive. One Bell flies the Taylorcraft, the other drives a 12-passenger van and trailer loaded with children and camping gear. While they're at the fly-in, the Bells trade off child-watching duties so that one or the other can jump into the Taylorcraft and compete in spot-landing or flour-bombing contests.
Ruth-Ann Bell |
A batch of young children is the reason that many people set aside flying until, well, things quiet down a bit. For the Bells, it simply means being more flexible and becoming experts at time management.
"I did my glider checkride when I was seven and a half months pregnant with twins," says Ruth-Ann. The twins, Caleb and Isaac, are now 4 years old. Joining them are Jacob, 7; Eli, 3; and Levi, 18 months. All the boys are growing up around and learning a healthy respect for aviation, says Ruth-Ann. They love to fly with their parents and often squabble as to whose turn it is to go in the airplane, she adds. Jacob is an aviation prodigy, offering up his favorite types of airplanes without hesitation when a visitor asks.
The Bells own the 1946 Taylorcraft and also belong to a flying club with a Cessna 150 at Somerset Airport in Bedminster, New Jersey. Saturdays are spent working at Somerset Soaring Ventures, where Brian is a tow pilot and Ruth-Ann conducts glider rides. During the week, Brian is employed at a global pharmaceutical company. Ruth-Ann stays at home with the children.
On Sundays, the schedule is "church, then the airport," according to Ruth-Ann. She is working on a commercial certificate for powered aircraft, and both she and Brian want to get flight instructor certificates for gliders and, eventually, powered aircraft.
"We'll need to [get CFIs], to be able to teach them," says Brian, gesturing to the Bell children. They have talked about using aviation for missionary work, but acknowledge that one of them would need to earn an airframe and powerplant certificate to enable them to keep an aircraft operating in a remote area.
Flying is something that "keeps you together as a family," Ruth-Ann says. She and the children move off to help Brian pull out the Taylorcraft for another event at the fly-in, as if to illustrate a pilot's version of the old adage: the family that flies together, stays together.
Jill W. Tallman is associate editor of AOPA Flight Training and AOPA Pilot magazines. An instrument-rated private pilot, she has approximately 500 hours.
