Pilots: Kramer versus Kramer

Kramer has always loved a good airborne adventure. He has skydived and flown in ultralights, and he took flying lessons for a short time in 1969. In 1987, he leaped Bigfoot over seven cars, establishing the longest solo big truck flight record. And although he appeared in four Hollywood movies and headlined Bigfoot’s races in the 1980s, he said the highlight of his driving career was jumping Bigfoot through the arches of the L.A. Coliseum.

Through it all, Kramer thought about flying airplanes. “Once you learn to fly, you always look up when an airplane goes overhead,” he said. “I got [aviation] magazines for years and would go to Oshkosh and mill around. I always knew I wanted to get back to it one day.”

“One day” came in 2016. Kramer retired from Bigfoot 4x4 Inc. and resumed flying lessons. Many of those lessons have been in his own Piper Archer, which he bought in 2017 with its engine in pieces, then worked with A&P and IA buddies to rebuild it. He currently has 85 hours of training in his logbook and is looking forward to getting his certificate and taking his grandkids up in the Archer. But first he has to pass the knowledge test.

“My way of learning is with my hands. I do things. I’m mechanically inclined,” Kramer said. “If the private pilot test came with something to build, I’d be all over it. But to just sit and read it? I get so bored because there’s no physical relationship to it, so I haven’t taken the test.”

While Rod Machado’s book has been the most helpful, Kramer admits it is no match for a hands-on experience. “I have lots of friends and I like to keep busy, help people out. If I’m reading and someone calls to go do something, I’m out the door.”

Luckily, Kramer now has a partner in his quest to take the knowledge test: his wife, Julie. Julie enjoyed riding along on Jim’s training flights and, on occasion, taking the yoke when flying with a pilot friend, but she never considered learning to fly. During weekly breakfasts with a group of pilot friends, Jim’s pals would often rib him that Julie would be a certificated pilot before Jim ever got around to taking his knowledge test and for a long time, Julie laughed along. Then one day something clicked and she thought: Why not?

She started training in November 2017 and by early January had racked up 15 hours of flight training—a real accomplishment in the St. Louis, Missouri, winter. Her goal is to be a certificated pilot before her sixty-sixth birthday in August.

“When people find out I’m 65 and learning to fly—the looks on their faces! I don’t even have to open my mouth when new people come in to the office. My co-workers tell them: ‘This lady is learning to fly her own plane!’ and they are so impressed,” Julie said. “It’s fun to be the cool old lady.”

While the scenario seems perfect for a Kramer-versus-Kramer race to passing the private pilot practical test, neither spouse feels competitive. On the contrary, they are highly supportive and encouraging of each other. “I’ve been on a time clock all my life, having to do this race, this interview, this show. I’m trying to park that clock,” Jim said. “I don’t care if she wins.”

Don’t let this good-natured, unhurried attitude fool you. Even with age 70 looming, Jim is nowhere near to slowing down. Regardless of when he passes his private pilot checkride, this adrenaline junkie is already laying the groundwork for his next aviation project: building a Zenith STOL CH750 SD in his basement. “I have a four-acre pasture,” he said. “I don’t want to have to take off and land at 80 miles per hour; I want to take off straight up.”