In early April, I had the opportunity to give an airplane ride to a pilot friend of mine to Flabob Airport, who is now 92! What a treat! At 92, he is still sharp as a tack but is hard of hearing. Of course. But he was able to get up and around. Gene career was in engineering. He has been both a pilot and aircraft owner for many years, but no longer flies. But I recently learned that he would very much like to go up again, and ‘slip the surly bonds’, as the poem goes, so we did. A friend and I took care of the arrangements.
We met at the airport, and took pictures before getting in. Then I helped him to climb into the front right seat, which is a BIG step up in a Cessna 180. Then I carefully closed his door and got in on my side. We took off from Long Beach Airport and went on a short, 25-minute flight, at about 2,500’ east over the LA basin, to Flabob Airport in Riverside, CA. To my surprise, Gene had not flown into Flabob before. Flabob Airport is like a step back in time. A single runway, non-tower airport, home to many Vintage aircraft, including the DC-3 that I was able to fly in September 2021.
