Most Memorable Cockpit Companion

[Forrest Walton]

The thread about first flights got me to thinking about the most memorable flights I have had.
I am 51 years old and have been flying since I was 3. I have shared cockpits with hundreds of people over the years. One stands out from the rest.

Several years ago, my friend Dave Shyrack, my dad and I visited Dave's dad Jess Shyrack at the family farm in Justin, Texas. Just a small grass strip with a couple of hangars. The hangars, however, were full of many treasures. Old cars and old airplanes, projects everywhere.

Mr Shyrack, 82 years young, was not a man to stand around. He had many passions and fortunately, for me, he liked to share them. He had retired from American Airlines at the age of 60 and was still training pilots for them as a contract instructor in the Boeing 707. He had begun his career training pilots for the Korean War. Many hours in PT-19s and BT-13's. He now had agreed to teach me to fly a Luscombe. Me of little tailwheel experience and airline pilot feet.

The day was a bit gray but a picture Dave took of us, preflighting, shows me beaming like the sun. Mr Shyrack, as an instructor, was a minimalist. A demonstrated takeoff, some turns and stalls, a nice 3 point landing, all with few words spoken. Then it was my turn. Keeping the wing down on the crosswind takeoff earned me a pat on the shoulder. A nice 3 pointer and I got a grin and a thumbs up. We finished up for the day and spent dinner debriefing our flight. I think I went to sleep smiling. The next day we finished the checkout with wheel landings. I was having some trouble with the concept and asked him to do another demonstration. I watched him as he became one with that Luscombe, gently prodding her onto the grass. I saw my error and told him so. He laughed and said really, show me. I did and for my efforts got another pat on the shoulder. Pure joy!

I had not brought my logbook with me so he signed me off on an index card. I stapled it in my logbook. An entry very different than the rest.

Unfortunately, Mr. Shyrack suffered a stroke soon after. He spent many years ill and has just recently passed. However, his passion and joy for what we all love to do was passed on to me and all the others he came in contact with. I came home and bought my 170, eagerly improving on the skills he showed me.

Whenever I flip through my logbook and see that single index card, I smile and remember the pure joy I felt those two days.

[cessna170bdriver]

Great story, Forrest!

You being from Charlotte, and an airline pilot, I assume you fly for USAir? By any chance did you come to USAir by way of Piedmont Airlines? If so, you may have shared the cockpit with my favorite flying companion, my Dad, Harris Bowen. He retired in 1988 at the age of 56 to miss the USAir takeover, and never regretted it.

Dad_Ann_40pct.JPG

Dad was never a "certificated" instructor, but he taught a lot of people the LOVE of aviation, me included. He had the patience to sit in the front cockpit through many, many of my landings in his Stearman until I finally "got it", and I wasn't the only one he did that for. One of the more memorable flights I had with him was in my 170. Not too long after my Stearman checkout, Mom and Dad were invited to a wedding over 500nm away from their home. Mom's limit in an open cockpit was about 2 hours, just long enough to get to Tullahoma TN, where I was based. Dad offered to "trade" airplanes with me for a week. In those days, as I recall, the only requirement to be insured in a 170 was 250 total time and about 10 hours in tailwheel airplanes, not necessarily in type, so he was good to go, but he insisted on my giving him a "checkout" anyway. As expected, he"got it" by the first landing, but I mentioned to him that it was a strange feeling to be "checking out" an active professional airline pilot in my airplane. He told me he learned something every time he flew; anything else is a waste of time. I'll alway miss him.

Miles

[170C]

Guess I am stealing a thread, but I had the pleasure of knowing Jess Shyrack for 20+ years. Only flew with him once in his Ercoupe, but had many visits with him at Flying S in Justin as well as at fly-ins. Quite a fellow and I don't believe he ever met a stranger. Anyone who landed there was welcomed with open arms. I flew over his runway just a couple of weeks back and thought about the fun experiences I had the honor of enjoying there. His hangar held a lot of antique automobiles, airplanes, etc. I always wanted to see his GEE BEE finished & flying. No doubt Jess is up there flying it now. I think my most memorable copilot was when I flew my C-140A to Dayton (Air Force Museum) and to my first Oshkosh in 1986 (same trip) with my then 9 yr old daughter. What a way to bond with a daughter! Of course it took me about a year afterward to get her back in the plane. She told one of my flying friends that all her Daddy could think about was airplanes! Taking my Dad for several flights and one trip was right up there too. Unfortunately I could never convince my Mother to let me take her flying. She lived 75 1/2 years and never left the ground in an airplane.

[Harold Holiman]

Like Frank, my Mother would never fly with me or anyone else in "little airplanes" although she did fly commercial. I think she was 90 or 91 on her last commercial flight and passed away at 92. My Grandmother went up with me when she was about 89 or 90, she also passed away at 92, and my Daddy went up with me several times untill he was in his late 80's, probably about 87 or so.

Harold

[Forrest Walton]

Miles,

I never had the pleasure of flying with your dad. I do know the name and remember his face. Sounds like he was a wonderful mentor! My father also sparked my interest in this addiction

I was hoping others here might have had some similar experiences with Mr Shyrack. He truly made everyone a fast friend.

I also remember very well flying both of my grandmothers at the same time. I was 19 years old flying a brand new Cherokee six. Not their first flights though. Both had sons who flew. Still it was pretty neat to look back and see them smiling at me.

[SteveF]

Two memorable cockpit companions –

The first was the father of a friend of my wife’s. Meet him at a summer cookout and discovered he had been a C47 pilot during the war. Towed gliders, dropped paratroopers, and did whatever else was asked of him for about 2000 hours.

This was 1987 and he had only been a passenger in airliners sense the he got out of the service in 1946. Once we were in the air I let him fly the 170. He proved my feelings that flying is like riding a bicycle, you get rusty but don’t totally lose your abilities. You could see him at first feeling out turns and then more complicated manoeuvres. He knew what he wanted to see happen and just had to get the feel of the controls to accomplish it.

After about a half hour he was flying as well as most Sunday pilots I fly with so I decided to let him try a landing knowing that I would have to take it at the end. His glide to the threshold, speed control, power, and flap usage were great. Alas his experience got him in the end as he started to level out about twenty five feet above the runway. He was after all a C47 pilot and the cockpit is a long way up. He and I had a fun day.


The second companion had been a flying buddy of mine for years and had owned a Cherokee 180 for a time. After flying for over forty years he lost his medical and slowly drifted away from flying.

After not seeing him for several years he called and asked if we could fly sometime. I suggested the following Saturday and when I got to the airport found him holding onto the chain link fence looking through like a little kid. I knew he was going to have a good time that day.

We flew over all the airports he used to frequent including many that had become housing developments.
We flew high, we flew low, and we just enjoyed the freedom. After the flight he and I went to a local restaurant and reminisced about past flights we had taken. We parted around seven PM and I got a call from his girlfriend around midnight that he had died from a massive heart attack. She said all he talked about that evening was how much fun he had that day. I have always been glad that flight did not get put off to another day.

SteveF

[jrenwick]

Fifteen or so years ago I met the European sales rep for the tech start-up company I was working for, who turned out to be a pilot an aircraft owner who flies out of his own farm near Reading, England. He has two SIPA 903 French trainer aircraft, wood and fabric, low wing, two-place side-by-side, Continental C90 powered. They're challenging but absolutely lovely to fly. Steve has a US as well as a British pilot license, and has flown quite a bit around the US.

Business trips gave me some opportunities to visit him at home, and on one of those visits he mentioned that he had never been to the Oshkosh fly-in. Knowing what he flew, I had not the slightest unease about giving him my J3 to fly, and I suggested that he come over the following summer, and he and his wife could take my J3 to OSH, and I could haul all our stuff in my 170 (N2947D, not the one I own now). He readily agreed, but he told me later he couldn't believe what he was hearing -- nobody he knew ever made an offer like that. I'd made a friend for sure! That was 1996, and we had a great time at OSH. In the fall of that year Steve came to Minneapolis for a weekend, and we got our float plane ratings together on some of the local lakes, taking turns flying a 180HP C175.

I visited Steve's farm a few more times. We made day-trips in the SIPAs, so I got to know them a little. At one point he mentioned casually that he'd always wanted to fly the length of the Mississippi River. I said come on over, and we'll do it together in the J3 (I didn't have a 170 at that time). We did that in 2001: Minneapolis to New Orleans, then followed the Gulf Coast to Sun-n-Fun for a day, and home again -- 9 days of adventures! At lunch on the last day, Steve asked me if I would do this again, and I said yes. He said fine, but next time at his place.

So in 2002 he checked me out in a SIPA, and we flew the two of them in loose formation from England to France, Germany, and home again. I kept wanting to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. (The photo above was taken on that trip, in France.)

I was eager to outdo that, so in 2003, with the J3 upgraded to a C90, extended baggage and temperfoam seat cushions, we flew it to Alaska. I could go for hours about the adventures we had on these trips, but I'll spare you.

In 2004 we took the two SIPAs to Ireland for ten days, visiting most of the airfields in both Irelands.

In 2005 we flew my present 170 along all the Great Lakes. My intention was to follow the St. Lawrence out to the Maritime Provinces, but the weather was unfavorable for that, and we bailed after reaching Quebec City and settled for a lobster dinner in Wiscasset.

Steve has a Spitfire (80% scale) project now, so flying vacations are deferred until he gets that done.

Share your airplane and make friends!!!

John

[Jr.CubBuilder]

Most memorable cockpit companion? Nobody as interesting as the previous stories unfortunately.
There were two of them, yellow jackets, who accompanied me into the friendly skies. I guess the rest of them were out and about that morning and these two sleepy heads hadn't gotten going yet. At any rate when I turned the heater on about five minutes from the airport they warmed up and came out to see what was going on. Needless to say I turned the heater off and remained very placid till they landed where I could squish them.

[n3833v]

Well, I guess I'm fortunate enough to have had my mom fly with me when I got my ticket in 2000 and then on her 80th in 2003. I was proud she went because my dad passed before I started flying. Some of the Young Eagle give me satisfaction because of the smiles you can't wipe off their face.

John

[voorheesh]

My most memorable cockpit companion was undoubtedly Roger Sharon a Captain and Check Airman for Pan American World Airways (as opposed to Pan Am). Roger used to jumpseat with me in the early 70s on my commuter plane from Santa Rosa to San Francisco, his base where he flew the London route in 707s and then 747s. His reputation as a check airman was legendary and I always worried about doing something in the Islander that would get him going. I learned alot about the profession just listening to him. He took me up in his DeHavilland bi plane with inverted gypsy engine and what a great time flying over the grape vines in Sonoma County. The last time I saw him was at a Merced fly in about 5 years ago and he showed up in his Cessna 170 because the chipmonks were getting too much for him in his late 80s. What a great guy. Miss both him and Merced.

[voorheesh]

Hmmm Tigermoth not a Chipmonk or Chipmunk. I must be getting old myself. Anyway thanks for bringing this topic up I haven't thought about it for awhile.

[Kyle Wolfe]

Like many of you, my father influenced my desire to fly. As a kid, I watch him take off with friends flying to Canada for fishing trips in a friends Sea Bee. I couldn't wait to go along. Sunday afternoons were often spent with a local flight - in his 170. It's no surprise that Becky and I now own a 170.

My Dad recently passed due to heart failure. He was ready to go - we were not ready for him to go.

When doing the funeral planning I asked the mortician if we could use something more personal than the commercial box urns for Dad's ashes. He said yes, so I went to work looking through my Dad's collection. I found an old, discolored mortar casing. After some work with a buffing wheel and polishing compound, I got this 1941 era 90MM casing cleaned up. A good hunting friend glued up some oak that we'd cut and turned a bullet nose on a wood lathe. It turned out great. My mom thought it fitting. Dad would have loved it.

Here's a shot of the urn sitting next to one of Dad's horse friends atop the horse drawn hearse.

We were standing in my parents front yard enjoying wine and cheese following the funeral service. I heard a putt-putt overhead and looked up to see a friend in his Champ flying over the house. My Dad would have also liked that.

I'm back home looking through his logbook. First flight was 9-12-1957 in an Aeronca champ. His first solo, seaplane rating, and the time he picked me up from college and flew me to my surprise birthday pary. How wonderful to read his entries. I wish he'd have written more - and know that I'll put more notes in my own log.

Some of you met my Dad while enroute to Duluth this year when we had the social at our place. He did enjoy meeting many of you, and talking flying, and telling stories! Thanks to all who listened!

I took a solo flight the day before his funeral just to watch the sun and say "Thanks Dad!"

[jrenwick]

Hi Kyle,

I'm sorry to hear of your dad's passing, and glad I got to meet him in June. That's a fine job on the "urn," one of the nicest things I've ever seen done in that vein. Add that to the many memories, and your dad will continue to live for a long time.

Best regards to you and Becky,

John

[W.J.Langholz]

Kyle

Sorry to hear about your dad, Mary Jo and I did enjoy visiting with him this summer at your house. I remember looking around for my son John and there he and your dad were jabbering about flying something . He was full of life and rich memories......he will surely be missed.

W.

[cessna170bdriver]

Kyle,

Sorry to hear of your Dad's passing. I was glad to have met him back in June. You are right that we are never ready to see them go. Even if my Dad had lived to be 100, I don't think I'd have been ready.

VERY appropriate urn. My Dad's first hobby outside of flying was woodworking. (The kitchen table I have is the one I "helped" him build when I was eight.) Also, another of his favorite things to do was barbequeing, and his favorite flavoring was hickory smoke. We buried him in a hickory wood casket.

Miles