Young Again

Having bought and rebuilt my first of four 170Bs in 1975, installing a float kit, and leading-edge STOL kit and wing tips, I thoroughly enjoyed Cayla McLeod Hunt’s article, “Young Again” (December 2023 AOPA Pilot). My third 170B rebuild was a 1953. N4546C is now flying furs back down from the North Range in Alaska. It now sports a 180-horsepower Lycoming, making 195 horsepower, long range tanks, extended wings, with Sportsman STOL, vortex generators, float kit, Bushwheel tires, or skis. I applaud the amazing job AOPA and friends have done, making one of Cessna’s best little airplanes a true backcountry beast, but please ask Atlee Dodge to help you finish the job. I can guarantee you that no one will have a breeze of a time checking fuel level, refueling, or swinging a jug of fuel up on those wings, without the safety of bracing the “other” foot on one of Dodge’s strut steps. I’ve seen too many scratched-up struts, let alone how many times pilots have had a foot slip off a strut.
Craig M. Lieberg
Clear Lake, Minnesota

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Sob Story

I enjoyed Barry Schiff’s “A Sob Story” in the February 2024 issue of AOPA Pilot. I really like reading articles about aviation in the old days. I learned to fly in 1969, so I remember hearing about, and seeing, remnants of aviation in the 1940s and 1950s, older classic aircraft still flying, four course ranges still depicted on old sectional charts, the old TCA charts, et cetera. I did watch the Coast Guard video Ready on Ocean Station November. At approximately the 5:30 mark of that video, I was surprised to see a sailor standing on deck holding what looked like a Thompson submachine gun. Was he worried about unruly passengers? But the question I had at the very end was, how did they get everybody back home? Sent another ship for them? Put them on a flying boat?
Marc Wolf
Huntington Beach, California

Wow did Barry Schiff’s February 2024 article hit home. I am the chief pilot with KaiserAir in Oakland, California. The airline was founded in 1946 as part of Kaiser heavy industries with DC–3s. Our president, Ron Guerra flew DC–4s and DC–6s for World Airways low altitude to Hawaii using that radio beacon. 

I was hired in 1996 as a 29-year-old who had flown JetStar IIs and Westwinds after getting a degree in physics from Berkeley in 1989; I wanted an office with a view (applied physics right?). Anyway, the concept of “passing on messages” really hit home.

I flew NASA scientists on our 737 out of Vandenberg just ahead of an L–1011 with a rocket strapped to her belly. We were off to Kwajalein for the launch. I met the pilot in command of the L–1011, Capt. Bill Weaver. Nice fella who asked if we had any cargo space left because he had hit max gross. Of course, sir, I can help you. What do you need me to carry? He replied: It’s traditional that when we launch a missile, we have a luau. Any room you have, take to this tracking station. So, they brought about one and a half cords of firewood and huge coolers with beef, chicken, and pork. We were glad to help. 

I’m only 57 and I missed some of the best times in aviation, I think. On a flight to Santa Barbara last year, I finally drove out to Chino having never been to the Planes of Fame museum. I visited both museums that day and absorbed everything I could. It was amazing. I later learned Schiff hangs out at the local airport cafe and I almost drove out the following day. Then I thought, no: I need not intrude, you have enough stories to tell with the locals.
Timothy Slater
Santa Rosa, California

Antique Numbers

As a pilot, AME, and emergency medicine physician, I take exception to Dr. Brent Blue’s recent column “Antique Numbers” (February 2024 AOPA Pilot), suggesting that ER doctors biopsy their patients’ insurance plans before deciding to order tests. That suggestion of unethical behavior is unfair and unrealistic.

I wholeheartedly agree that we should be advocating improved times to disposition pilots who have faced medical disqualification. I know firsthand how getting disqualified feels. However, trying to suggest to pilots that they disagree with a treating clinician on the best course of action during an emergency is a dangerous precedent. Of course, we wouldn’t order a CT scan of the brain when someone was kicked with a soccer ball! We order CT scans when clinically necessary.

Even famous athletes have down time to mend after an injury, so, too, pilots must heal after certain new diagnoses have been made. If your livelihood depends on it, then disability insurance exists for this purpose. Don’t gamble your life by refusing clinically indicated tests.
Jonathan Miller, MD, FACEP
Boise,Idaho

Dr. Blue responds: Thank you for your letter, but I fervently disagree with you. Not only are tests ordered based on whether a patient has insurance or not, it is a frequent occurrence. In fact, if a patient does not have insurance, ordering an expensive test without discussing the cost with the patient is not in the patient’s best interest. I have had multiple patients, with and without insurance, refuse testing due to cost. Remember that health care costs are the number-one reason for personal bankruptcies in the U.S. Patients need to be partners in the health care team, and they need to be given, without guilt tripping, the ability to say “no” to recommended care, whether it is the correct choice medically or not. It is their body and their pocketbook.

Reflections

As I read “Reflections” by LeRoy Cook in the February 2024 issue I thought what a nostalgic read. I could have been the author with a few exceptions, Unlike Cook, who took his primary training in a Cessna 140, I did mine in the rear seat of a Piper J–3. Due to the width of my instructor’s shoulders, I never saw the full panel until my first solo in 1958. I was really proficient at controlling pitch by noting where the horizon intersected the cowling and roll by checking the wing tips while scanning for traffic and judging how the wing tips appeared with the horizon. When we began practicing stalls and gained altitude, we would often spin down to get to a lower altitude so we could enter the traffic pattern, When I moved to a 140 with a starter and Narco whistle stop tuning Omnigator I felt awed by the technology.

As a high school senior, I went from BED in Bedford, Massachusetts, down to North Perry, Florida, in the Air Force flying the club’s T–34 with my instructor, as he was an active airman stationed at Hanscom. Twenty-hour round trip on the Adcock low frequency range airways because that was the only radio it had.

I am retired now and haven’t pushed a rudder pedal in a while. I am a little saddened that I never got to be a child of the magenta line but had quite a career nonetheless.
Joel Cerasuolo
Maynard, Massachusetts

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