Stowaway....

[GAHorn]

On Father's day (last Sunday) Jamie and i were to fly down to Houston (KDWH, actually) to visit family.

As I pre-flighted the airplane and pushed it out of the hangar I noticed this little guy hanging onto the left strut.

Imagine my surprise, while climbing out thru 2,000 MSL to see him still sitting out there... on a polished (somewhat) strut, at 80 mph IAS! (How did it DO that?)

Jamie and I had several discussions about it. I mentioned that he was probably motivated to hang-on.... as one can see we're presently over Lake Travis.... a departure at this point would likely end with him in the water. Jamie mentioned that would likely give him a "soft" landing.... I replied, "Yes.... and a future as BASS BAIT!"

He held on until we levelled off at 7500', and as the speed built up to 120 mph, ONE hind leg was pulled off the strut....then the other hind leg.... then .... he was GONE!

Jamie imagined that as he fell thru the clouds below us at 4,000' he (or she) must have thought itself to be in heaven.

I imagined it thought itself to be in HELL!

[15A]

I wouldn't worry about him, he's pretty crafty!

[W.J.Langholz]

"Grillo Parlente"!!!!!!!!!!

W.

[GAHorn]

"Grillo Parlente"!!!!!!!!!!

W.

Dubya...you're gonna hafta translate that one!

[jrenwick]

"Grillo Parlente"!!!!!!!!!!

W.

Dubya...you're gonna hafta translate that one!

Jiminy Cricket, in the original Italian. (I love Google!)

[W.J.Langholz]

That was my son's most favorite Disney VCR when he was little we watch it a bazillian times!!!!!!!!!!!


W

[hilltop170]

Imagine my surprise, while climbing out thru 2,000 MSL to see him still sitting out there... on a polished (somewhat) strut, at 80 mph IAS! (How did it DO that?)

There are stagnation points in the airflow on the front and rear of the strut where airflow is reduced to near zero. Water drops will do the same thing. He could probably have held on all the way to Hooks Airport if his legs did not extend out of the stagnation area and finally pull him off when the speed got high enough.

Willy- Knowing that John is now 6'4" it's hard to imagine him as a little kid. Jiminy was one of my favorites also.

[GAHorn]

...There are stagnation points in the airflow on the front and rear of the strut where airflow is reduced to near zero. ....

I'm familiar with the stagnation areas. You mistakenly thought I was talking about the RELATIVE WIND being his problem.

But my superior coordinated flying-techniques keeping the stagnation point created by the near-mach shock-wave of my red airplane exactly at the trailing edge of the strut..... did absolutely nothing to assist him in fighting the constant "tingling" he felt in his feet as they went "asleep" due to vibration. (I really need to have my prop balanced.)

[cmsusllc]

I didn't know red ones could hit 120 MPH !!!!!
Scott.....53B

[W.J.Langholz]

This reminds me of something that happened when "I" was a kid. Our house was very strict and we could not swear at all. We would say "JIMINY CRICKET" in place of Jesus Christ. We also had another one where we would say "CHEEZE AND CRACKERS GOT ALL MUDDY" in place of Jesus Christ God Almighty. When we would get caught saying something we were not to say we had to hold a bar of SOAP in our mouth for 5 minutes.......... well you guessed it one day the cheeze and crackers came out the other way........up until that day I thought soap was soap well I had to hold a bar of LAVA in my mouth for 5 minutes........I still can't stand the smell of that soap

Thanks George for the Jiminy Crickets picture ....I had almost forgot that memory


W.

[GAHorn]

We Boy Scouts had a favorite punishment for the worst crimes, called a "beltline"... a type of "running the gantlet", Indian-Style, with all the scouts armed with their belts aligned in two lines, the runner being forced to run down the center. Whenever an eligible transgression occured...we all, in unision, would gleefully chant "Beltline! Beltline!"

When Dad became scoutmaster, he had banned the tradition, much to all our disappointment. (Truth be known, it was not as harmful as might be imagined as we all wore khaki web belts, and even the victim relished the opportunity to run the gantlet with skill and speed to defeat his contemporaries best efforts to land a lash.)

I never heard my father say a foul word, and he wouldn't tolerate any being said around him.
As the Scoutmaster, he'd taken us all to camp one summer and as we sat at the picnic table having lunch, a fly landed in my lunch.

I really, truly intended to say either "Shoot".... or "GIT"... and, (indecision about which particular "dive" to perform being the downfall of many a kid leaping off the end of the high-board),... I really have no idea how those two words melded into what actually came out of my mouth at the table.

The silence was deafening.

The beltline was re-instituted only ONCE during his 15 years as Scoutmaster of Troop 60.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

I didn't know red ones could hit 120 MPH !!!!!
Scott.....53B

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Hey W. my Dad was a Cheese and Crackers man until about the time I turned 18 and even then about half the time there after because my younger sisters were around.

The reflection in his voice and the tempo at which he muttered those words, specially when they were invoked by my mother, are to this day one of the fondest funny memories my sisters and I have of him. Not a special holiday gathering goes by without one of us doing an impersonation.

[170C]

Your stories of prohibited cursing reminded me of one of my favorite Christmas season movies, "A Christmas Story". When the lug nuts get lost in the snow and Ralphie utters the Queen Mother of Dirty Words (f_ _ _ ). That is so funny However, I have never forgiven his Dad, Darren McGavin (the old man) for telling Ralphie's mother what he said. That should have been between Dad & Son, but "the old man" was a woose anyway so it makes a funny episode. Speaking for myself, there have been plenty of times I intended to use some word and it came out wrong--very wrong and some of those times have been as an adult