AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019 - 14

LETTERS

FROM OUR JUNE 2019 ISSUE

Living your life
Readers reflect on Sheila Harris's story of overcoming her fear of flying.

Larry Toto
AOPA 568727
Glenside, Pennsylvania

Risk and reward

AOPA Pilot's June 2019 article
"Into the Darkness" provides
wisdom for all single-engine
pilots. I do my best to avoid night
flying in single-engine airplanes
for one simple reason: You are
betting your life on the engine.
Terry Leap
AOPA 1278961
Knoxville, Tennessee

Keep your distance

Enjoyed Thomas B. Haines' article about wake turbulence. I had
one of these a number of years
ago. It was a beautiful summer
afternoon flying into Lorain
County Regional Airport (LPR)
in Ohio. The crops were greening up and the sun added its
yellow warmth to the picturesque flight. I was just entering
14 | AOPA PILOT August 2019

PILOT BRIEFING
MUSINGS

Fearless, almost
Worries can't reach me up above
BY SHEILA HARRIS

I CONFESS, I came late to the runway. Perhaps it was because
of my sheltered upbringing in a rural Midwest town, where
women were encouraged to be "keepers at home" and generations tended to follow each other lockstep-unless one made a
concerted effort to break free from the mold. I had no such plan.
It just transpired.
I had been married for 25 years, then one day I wasn't. Divorce
was a shock, but it provided the catalyst for acquiring some muchneeded self-determination without threat of domestic reprisal.
Unfortunately, that was only one fear dispensed with. My list
was long. Raised by a trepidatious mother, I contracted her anxiety
and many of her phobias almost by osmosis. I've come to realize
some of them were unfounded. Like my fear of flying.

I had never stepped into an airplane, at least not one preparing
to leave the ground, until I was 52 years old. It marked a milestone
in my life, of a magnitude not easily comprehended by others.
For years, I suffered from an inordinate fear of death. Coupled
with a vivid imagination, it set the stage for some lurid scenarios.
Not all of them were hypothetical. Every once in a while, a bridge
does collapse while people are driving across it, and the occasional
camper does get eaten by a bear. Things happen. And, no question,
dramatic things have been known to happen in airplanes. That's
why I avoided them.
Until I became acquainted with Curt, that is. I'd known who
he was for the multitude of years we'd both lived in the same
small town, and, truthfully, I'd always been intimidated by him.

STUART BRIERS

I had a tear in my eye at the conclusion of Sheila Harris's article,
"Musings: Fearless, Almost." I
think it was the similar storyline in my life, except I am the
pilot and Gail, at age 50, was the
passenger. We have spent many
hours flying since then, including trips to Oshkosh. To open
one's life up and turn trepidation into opportunity and joy is
a revelation that some are lucky
enough to experience. Gail and I
will have been happily married
six years in August.
There is a life lesson in there
for flyers and nonflyers, something along the lines of... Live
your life. I wish the best to Ms.
Harris.

He was several years older than me, with a
demeanor austere to the point of forbidding
(well-practiced, I'm sure). When he first
initiated a conversation with me in a local
bookstore-where we nearly collided in the
history section-I was caught off guard.
It was common knowledge that he was
a commercial pilot and the owner of an airplane. I couldn't fathom why a person with
such credentials would make his home in
our humble community. It seemed like a
valid question, so I asked him. He informed
me (while maintaining a straight face) that
even pilots must live somewhere. I couldn't
fault his logic.
When he discovered that I was a freelance writer, he pointed me in the direction
of a possible story about a restaurant, some
30 miles north of where we lived, situated
near a skydiving business and boasting its
own airstrip. I was intrigued by the story
idea, but even more so by Curt. He wasn't
as scary as I'd believed. From him, I soon
learned that pilots are people, too, just people who aren't afraid to fly. It was rather
eye-opening.
As I got to know him, Curt struck me
as the responsible type, so I wondered if
it might be safe to ride in his airplane-a
novel concept, since the very idea of flying
had always filled me with terror. But, now,
I saw the possible opportunity to overcome
that fear.
I gave it lots of thought. To fly, or not
to fly, became the question. Not quite as
existential as the one posed by Hamlet,
yet still one I wrestled with. I decided
that, yes, I was brave enough to leave the
ground, which then begged the question of etiquette. Curt had never formally
offered me a ride in his airplane, so would
it be presumptuous to ask for one?
A publisher assured me that all pilots
like it when people express interest in
their airplanes, so I called him. True to
his nature, Curt's reply was unrevealing.
Although he didn't sound overjoyed at the
prospect of taking me up for my maiden
flight, neither did he seem put off by my

request. He simply instructed me to meet
him at the local airport.
While driving the short distance, my
heart was in my throat from both fear and
excitement. It occurred to me that I had no
idea what sort of airplane he owned. Not
that it mattered, of course, since, presumably, any size would get me off the ground.
I first thought his was the small jet
parked to the side of the runway, which
elicited a chuckle from him.
"Nope, it's this one," he said, as he led
me to an Aviat Husky A1-B, discreetly
marked and impeccably maintained.
Per his instructions, I ducked below the
right wing, then performed the sleight of
feet and feat of agility required to procure
my entrance into the narrow rear seat. After
contending with a bewildering assortment
of straps and buckles, listening to his speech
informing me of the whereabouts of the
barf bag and the emergency exit, donning
a headset, and taking several deep breaths
to steady my nerves, I felt ready for takeoff.
After positioning himself in the front
seat and adjusting his own headset, Curt
called, "Clear," and the engine roared to
life. I was committed. No time now for
second thoughts. Taxiing down the runway presented me with the opportunity for
some last-minute qualms, but not for long.
We turned, picked up speed going in the
opposite direction, then soared skyward.
My fear was immediately a thing of
the past. The exhilaration of becoming
airborne was like nothing I'd known. That
thrill is but a small part of the pleasure
of flight, though, I've since discovered.
Leveling out and flying effortlessly above
familiar terrain, while viewing it from a
higher perspective, strikes a chord deep
within me. Peace reigns. Worries can't
reach me when I'm high above them.
Why hadn't I made this discovery when
I was much younger? I wondered. It might
have spared me a few gray hairs.
SHEILA HARRIS, a freelance writer, lives in

southwest Missouri.

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Please express my thanks
to Sheila Harris for
overcoming her fears of
flying to slip the surly
bonds of Earth and dance
the skies on laughtersilvered wings.

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www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 33

32 | AOPA PILOT June 2019

downwind when I heard a B-17
call long, low final for Runway
7. I looked out to the west and
there it was, below me like a
cover photo over the green
Earth. I was so awestruck that
I just followed it right around
base, then final, watching it
touch down. As sure as my CFI
would have warned me, I hit
the turbulence of those four big
props about 500 feet. The surprise shook me from gawking
at the sight of the B-17 to aviating as I recovered from the
rock and roll wings (hey, this is
Cleveland) and landed safely.
I'll always remember that even
though it's not a jet, if it's bigger, you'll still need to keep your
distance.
Bruce Bream
AOPA 1308611
Beachwood, Ohio

A big difference

The "Aviation History" piece
about James H. Doolittle (June

2019 AOPA Pilot) named his
major accomplishments-and
there were many. In my opinion, Doolittle, while working for
Shell Oil in the 1930s, made one
of the more significant contributions of the era and it wasn't
mentioned: He served as the fulcrum between the oil company
and engine manufacturers. In the
depths of the Great Depression,
oil companies were reluctant to
do the necessary research and
development to develop higheroctane gasolines for engines (and
a market) that did not exist, and
engine manufacturers saw no
sense in spending precious dollars designing and building

Burt Stevens
AOPA 503152
Woodbury, Connecticut

bigger engines for which no
fuel was available. Doolittle,
renowned for his piloting and
engineering abilities, convinced
his employers and engine manufacturers to both work toward
a day when there would be big
engines needing high-octane
fuel, and vice versa.
Loyal Baker
AOPA 768605
Dayton, Washington

Changing times

I enjoyed reading Barry Schiff's
article "Proficient Pilot: Times
Have Changed." An interesting fact that he could have
included is that early in my
career as a flight engineer flying

Are you instrument rated?
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71%

29%

Aviation eBrief poll

29%

71%

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2019