AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2012 - 30

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VIDEO

There were 140 warbirds that went into the lake for one reason or another. Many different models were involved. In 1993 a 40-foot A&T Recovery boat positioned above 55404, its winches straining, pulled the aircraft out of the lake, still in good condition with its paint scheme preserved by the cold, deep water. The shotgun shell was still in the breech; a mechanic’s screwdriver was found wedged in the belly. Paint on metal blisters beneath each wing were still pockmarked by the cartridges expelled by the aircraft’s four .50 caliber machine guns. The throttle was still retarded; its R-1820-56 engine of 1,350 horsepower was frozen forever by rust and silt. The Wildcat was raised with private money for the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. The museum already had an example of a Wildcat, so 55404 was cannibalized for parts from the nose to complete the display aircraft. Then it was traded for a Sopwith Camel fighter biplane to an owner in California until someone driving by spotted it. It ended up at Wild Warbirds in Uvalde, Texas, and is owned by Sierra Industries, a jet refurbishing firm. There, it faced the same fate as the one at the National Naval Aviation Museum. There was a prettier Wildcat already present. It would be the one finished and flown by Wild Warbirds chief Conrad Huffstutler. There wasn’t room for 55404, and at this writing it was on the block again, waiting to be sold. If the new owner wishes, it can be restored by Wild Warbirds.
EMAIL alton.marsh@aopa.org

Airplane’s a star in ‘The Dog Stars’
Outdoors activist flies into fiction
B Y S Y LV I A H O R N E AUTHOR AND ENVIRONMENTALIST Peter Heller is a man who goes to extremes. He’s an accomplished whitewater and expedition kayaker and conquered the rapids in the Pamir Mountains and the Tien Shan Mountains in central Asia, as well as the Tsangpo Gorge in eastern Tibet. When he decided to learn to surf, he surfed from California down the coast of Mexico in a single year. He documented his adventures in several nonfiction books and articles for National Geographic Adventure, Outside, and Men’s Journal magazines. On a fishing trip several years ago, Heller was a passenger in a small airplane flying into a backcountry strip at Schafer Meadows, Montana—he decided he needed to learn to fly. He wanted to learn to fly bush planes into backcountry strips in the shortest time possible. After 20 days and 40 hours of private instruction from renowned mountain pilot Dave Hoerner he got his private pilot certificate in Kalispell, Montana. “It’s the way I do stuff,” he says. “I compare it to drinking from a fire hose.” With 179 hours under his belt he considers himself a low-time pilot, but an enthusiastic one. “I love flying,” he says. “I always marvel at how the world perfects itself when you look down at it from altitude. How you detect patterns, how creeks turn into rivers, how countryside transitions to cityscape. Even a junkyard can look appealing from above.” Heller manifested his passion for aviation in his first novel, The Dog WEB Stars. He tells the story of a lone

survivor of a global flu epidemic who flies his Cessna 182 around the perimeter of the airport to scan for intruders—until one day he receives a broken radio transmission and sets out in his airplane and with limited fuel reserves to find the source. The star in the novel is the aircraft, modeled on Heller’s own 1956 Cessna 182— down to the tail number. The story revolves around Erie, Colorado, where the airplane is also based in real life. He describes in detail short-field, soft-field landings and takeoffs, and for a desperate escape has the main character, Hig, cutting down trees and filling in holes on an improvised landing strip, as well as solving complex weight-and-balance issues—including a cargo of weapons, people and lambs. His calculations are unforgiving and he eventually has to leave one passenger behind. “I know pilots are an exacting bunch. I’ve had those calculations checked by two high-time pilots with experience in backcountry flying,” he laughs.

“Even a junkyard can look appealing from above.”
Heller flies his Cessna 182, lovingly called the Beast, for the pure joy of it. “All my interests complement each other. There’s not one activity I prefer over the other, except that in flying there’s less margin for error. You don’t really get a second chance when you get something wrong.”
EMAIL sylvia.horne@aopa.org Visit the website www.peterheller.net

30 | AOPA PILOT November 2012

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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2012

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