Letters from our March 2020 issue

I read Julie Summers Walker’s article (“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”) with interest and decided to go pull out my old logbook and take a look. I arrived at Schofield Barracks in February 1965. This was after leaving a bad snowstorm in Fort Knox, Kentucky; flying to Oakland, California; and then on to Honolulu. First leg was on a Lockheed Connie and second was on a Douglas DC–8. You have no doubt gathered I was in the U.S. Army and would be stationed with the 25th Infantry division all the way to Vietnam.

At that point in my life I had a private pilot certificate with about 125 hours. After being in Hawaii for about three months I decided it was time to check out the flying. I did all of my flying out of Honolulu International Airport. I first checked out in a Piper Colt, then a Cherokee 160, and finally a Cessna 182. From June of 1965 until March 13, 1966, I was able to fly to Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii. When flying around Oahu we would rent the Colt. Four of us flew the Cherokee 160 to Kona on the big island and also out to Kauai. We also took the 182 to Maui and Hawaii. Mike Fizer’s photo on page 79 looks just like what we saw on our first trip over to Hawaii. Clouds were low and visibility was good with some pineapple juice falling. Never rain!

Sometimes when I look back at flying over there I wonder what I was thinking about. As I remember, it is 90 miles landfall to landfall from Oahu to Kauai, and I made one night cross-country from Maui to Oahu. I don’t believe any of the airplanes we rented had more than one radio and loran or GPS had not been heard of yet, at least in general aviation. However, the good Lord was with me; I survived the flying and Vietnam, and continue to fly our Cessna 182 when I get the chance.

Nice article and thanks for bringing back some great memories.

Gaylon Piercy
AOPA 321717
Shelbyville, Indiana

Airport in the Sky

I loved “Island Adventure.” The Bison Burger is a must-have but the chocolate malts are out of this world. I started flying to Catalina in the 1960s and that runway caused many crashes. It was about 3,000 feet total but only about 2,000 feet was visible when you touched down as it curved up then down, rather than flat as it looks today. On takeoff many pilots panicked and pulled up before V1 and got themselves in a lot of trouble. Back then there was no landing fee and first timers got a certificate noting the accomplishment. Besides the wild animals there is a nine-hole golf course that is fun and challenging.We would see a lot of different types of aircraft fly into Catalina from private jets to Cessna 140s. Enjoyed the trip back in time.

Tom Simmerman
AOPA 5904911
Palm Desert, California

Destination airports

I don’t know why Monterey Airport in California wasn’t mentioned in the “Only a GA Pilot Knows the Feeling” article. With the spectacular Monterey Bay, the Big Sur coastline, and the Point Sur Light Station, flying this coast of California shouldn’t be missed! The coastline does have an altitude restriction of 1,000 feet agl because of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, but the view is still exceptional, and the highly photogenic Bixby Bridge is extraordinary at sunset.

Phyllis Cleveland
AOPA 525593
Carmel Valley, California

Thanks for the nice article (“Orville and Wilbur Who?”). I live only 100 miles from Hammondsport, and have flown to Penn Yan Airport many times, but have never visited the Glenn Curtiss Museum. Your fine story has inspired me to do just that before year’s end.

Gary Bobseine
AOPA 1239700
Cattaraugus, New York

Head and heart

Speaking from personal experience, “parting with a family icon” is hard and is emotional. Richard McSpadden’s article in the current AOPA Pilot (“Safety Spotlight: Head and Heart”) struck a very personal and emotional note to me.

I bought my Bonanza F33 (N906JE) in early August 1977 and after nearly 41 years and north of 5,000 hours in that airplane, sold our Magic Carpet—my wife’s nickname—June 30, 2018. The reasons are a familiar story. I celebrated my eightieth birthday in October 2018; still a very fit and active person, still skiing black-diamond runs in Colorado, IFR current, et cetera. Still, being an advanced-age pilot owning a high time IO-550-B engine with 2,355 hours, it was prudent to sell the airplane while it was still airworthy. That was a really hard decision to get my head and heart around. N906JE reliably took me and my family on countless business and pleasure trips to every state in the lower 48 except California, the Northwestern states, and Rhode Island. Foreign travel included many cities and remote destinations in Canada, and trips to the Bahamas and beyond. What a blessing to have the freedom, capability, and means to escape the bonds of Earth.

John Ericsson
AOPA 595133
Port Orange, Florida

Didn’t fool me. My dog Greta would be as easy to sell as my 180, the 180 my parents acquired in 1960.

Jim Densmore
AOPA 701868
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Top overhauls

Just finished Mike Busch’s piece on top overhauls, “Risky Business.” I can only wonder what it will do to the used market. I, for one, will never think about a top overhaul the same.

Tom Seybold
AOPA 356816
Nyack, New York

The author argues that “it’s nearly impossible to install a cylinder properly when the engine is on the airplane,” that manufacturers’ instructions are inadequate, and that it is pure “luck” if you do install a cylinder while the engine is in the airplane and it doesn’t subsequently fail. These arguments are easily disproved by the hundreds of thousands of cylinders that have been successfully installed while the engine is in the airplane over a long period of time by mechanics who are following manufacturers’ instructions. “Luck” is not an appropriate word to describe such a long and successful history. Aircraft engines are generally tightly cowled with a number of connections for fuel, ignition, intake air, exhaust, et cetera, some of which must be removed to access a cylinder. However, experience shows that when manufacturers’ instructions are strictly adhered to, problems with cylinders do not occur. Before stating his opinions in a published article, it would have been nice if the author had actually read Continental’s service literature.

Nowhere in the article does the author exhibit any familiarity with the current revision of Continental Standard Practice Maintenance Manual M-O, which provides instructions for cylinder repairs. The author makes five points regarding obstacles to achieving proper fastener preload when performing cylinder installations in airplanes without one reference to this important Instruction for Continued Airworthiness.

The arguments contained in the article contradict the published service literature and experience in the field. Owners and mechanics need not fear cylinder failure when the published instructions are strictly observed.

Michael E. Ward
Continental Aerospace Technologies
Mobile, Alabama

Find Ward’s point-by-point breakdown at aopa.org/pilot/topoverhauls.

We welcome your comments. Send letters to Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701 or [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length and style.

Hangar Talk

“You never know who you’re going to meet—that’s a theme we all see traveling across the country for stories for AOPA Pilot,” says Senior Features Editor Julie Summers Walker. “I admit to being a little star-struck sometimes—actor/pilot Kurt Russell being my favorite—but Senior Photographer Chris Rose always makes me laugh with his ‘do you see who that is?’ ability to ferret out a celebrity,” she says. On assignment to the Bealeton Flying Circus in Virginia on a sunny Sunday in October, Rose said, “You’ll never guess who is here!” (see “Little Big Show,” p. 66). It was actor Butch Patrick (shown here), who played little Eddie Munster—the werewolf boy—in the television show The Munsters in the 1960s. “So, you had to be of a certain age and mindset to be impressed,” Walker says. “I thought the car was more impressive than the man, but ‘Eddie’ did go flying with Stearman pilot Chuck Tippet.” The actor hasn’t changed much in 50 years—he still looks like little Eddie but with graying hair and some extra weight—and he travels around the country with the 18-foot-long Munster Koach to car shows and family events such as the Flying Circus.