The Maiden Voyage
After passing my checkride, I could feel that Temporary Airman's Certificate burning a hole in my wallet... along with the bills for the new headset I bought to celebrate and all the plane time I rented practicing for the checkride. So I stayed grounded... for about five days.Dee was my roommate for a year in Japan, and she lived across town. The daughter of a Marine fighter and test pilot, she was mostly undaunted by the thought of riding in a small airplane flown by a crazed ex-roommate. Thus she became my first passenger. I reserved "Vicious Terrible," the yellow Cessna 152 I'd flown my first lesson in and we left that sunny October afternoon for Castle/Atwater.
Castle Airport, formerly Castle AFB, boasts two main attractions: a military aircraft museum close to the airport, and a 12,000 foot long, 300 foot wide, non-towered runway. It's probably the easiest airport to spot in the state of California because you see that huge black landing strip long before you arrive... especially in a 152. Still, we puttered happily along, Dee with the sectional in her lap, tracing our landmarks, and me happily minding the airplane. The trip went smoothly except for one problem: getting there had taken more time than I'd anticipated, mostly because I do the world's slowest preflights. With my first passenger going up, I didn't want anything to go wrong.
Landing was a non-event, but as we walked toward the tower building, I realized we didn't have that much time to tour the museum before it closed and before it got dark. I wanted some daylight for my landing back at San Jose.
We entered the building and saw a large, older man leaning on the counter for the flight center. When he saw us, one eyebrow went up, and he greeted us with, "You ladies flew here?"
Aggh, I thought, and a number of sarcastic replies went through my mind. ("Yes, and our little ol' arms are so tired!" "Oh no, not us. If you don't mind, we'll wait here for the pilot we hired to fly us here in that little yellow 152 back there.") Fortunately, I only said, "Yes."
His face lit up. "That's great!" He was happy to see more female pilots out there and even happier to hear we were both military brats, and after a few minutes of conversation, we found out he was a CFI, a volunteer at the museum and a war hero in the Aviator's Hall of Fame. I mentioned that we were interested in catching a shuttle to the museum, and he said, "I'll take you there myself."
The Castle Aircraft Museum offers over 45 restored military aircraft as well as an indoor museum with old trainers, uniforms and other memorabilia. An SR-71 Blackbird sits outside the museum, right next to the parking lot. I found that jarring, as I remembered the years my family spent at Beale Air Force Base in the seventies, when seeing a Blackbird, either on the ground or in the air, was a rare treat.
Not only did our new friend drive us to the museum, but once he found out about our tight schedule, he put us on a golf cart and whisked us along on a whirlwind tour, complete with in-depth descriptions of the aircraft and a few war stories. We stopped beside one old bomber that happened to be open and in the process of being restored, and after a little sweet-talking, I was allowed a cockpit tour.
We got back to the airport with just over an hour of daylight remaining, and after thanking our friend and giving the plane a once-over, we took off. As we climbed past a hundred feet, all in the green, my eyes scanning for traffic, my passenger let out a sudden shriek: "My door's open!"
"Well, shut it!" Look, I don't have time for this right in the middle of a climb. Can't you see I'm flying here?
My roommate did something with the door, I didnt' see what. "I can't. It's still loose!"
I was now at three hundred feet. "Okay, push it open a little and slam it shut," I said. "You're not going to fall out. If it's still not shut, we'll land and I'll shut it."
She pushed the door open a crack and I felt Vicious Terrible yaw to the right. Cool--you can steer it with the doors! I'd seen Barry Schiff mention that in one of his videos on landing emergencies. Then, whap! the door was shut and I turned crosswind for a downwind departure. Dee had, in fact, slammed the door so well that I had to pull it open for her once we landed at San Jose International. Not a far cry from when passengers ride in a car with me. Normally I have to let them out.
I find it interesting that my instructors never pulled the "open door" drill on me. Most of my simulated emergencies were engine-outs and cows on the runway. And I also find it interesting that my old roommate still flies with me from time to time. I think it's because she likes navigating with the sectional so she can tell me where to go.