Spring, 2008

Every spring the same thing happens to me. Some call it “spring fever”, and I guess that’s as much an appropriate description of my mental state as anything. Actually it’s “flying fever”. Over the winter of 2007/2008, my son, John, asked me to help him get his Cessna 172 annualed and flying again ultimately so that it could be sold. It hadn’t flown since 2001 and it was time to get out from under the monthly hanger rental. I had gotten my medical license updated and, although it was marginal due to a less-than-positive heart test, the FAA still issued my medical with a condition that I had until January of 2009 to demonstrate an improved test.
A problem with trying to get this all done with the Cessna was that since we lived in La Crescent, and Crystal airport was at least 3 ½ hours drive time away, if everything was not done when I was up there, it was a real pain to go back and forth. But that was the parameters, so that was what I had to deal with.
Working with Flying Scotchman at the Crystal Airport where the hanger is located, I got the engine into mechanically sound condition. We had the mechanic at Flying Scotchman uninstall it, had it shipped to an overhauler in Michigan where it was majored. It arrived back, was re-installed, annualed and pronounced airworthy by Flying Scotchman.
Then came the frustration. Although the airplane was airworthy, my pilots license was not current and I needed a Biennial Flight Review to be able to fly again. Working with the Flying Scotchman flight instructor, Randy, an ex-military pilot who managed the operation, I easily passed the written portion of the BFR. I had taxied N4149L to Flying Scotchman to take the flight portion of the test, but when he began to check out the paperwork that was required to be in the airplane, he noticed that the registration was not in the plane. That was the end of that day. I had to go back to John’s house and locate the registration, which I did. So the next day I went back to the airport only to be told the logbooks were not in the plane. Then, a third time, after locating the logs, I was informed that the weight and balance documents were not in the plane. Why couldn’t he just give me a list of what was needed and I could collect all of that stuff at once?! After the third abortive attempt, I gave up, and decided to finish later.
In the meantime, my medical license lapsed and I couldn’t get it renewed, so I could no longer fly. It was a real bummer! I was grounded.
I don’t really remember how I got interested in ultralights. Maybe it was the trip I took with Howard Munson, his son, and Steve Gund to EAA Airventure in Oshkoshm, WI, in July of 2008. I think I got a giveaway paper or magazine at the airshow that rekindled my interest in flying. I really don’t remember, but in any case, somewhere I learned that it was possible to fly without a medical license if it was under federal regulations known as FAR Part 103. I began to investigate what this meant, and learned that this class or aircraft, single-place (obviously no passengers), very light weight (maximum empty weight of 254 lbs.), able to fly only during the day and over non-congested areas, could be flown without a pilots license or medical license. It didn’t even have a “N” registration number! How this got past the regulators, I don’t know, but for guys like me who couldn’t carry a current pilots license, and wanted to bounce around the sky, it appeared to be salvation!