What's Up?!
2011: I Want to Start off the New Year With a Bang, So BANG!
By Larry Shapiro
Looking back some of you may know I’ve had to deal with some major health issues in the past 12 or so months and I chose to share them with you. Of course, with my sense of humor, I laughed at them because I’m invincible and even though I can’t leap over tall building, I have flown over a few.
Lesson learned: Be careful, you might get what you wish for or some things you didn’t wish for.
In early November I had a rather severe accident. No it didn’t involve an airplane or car. The fact is, I don’t know what happened. I can tell you a couple of things: one is that it was the scariest thing that has every happened to me in my 70 years and second, it was also the most painful.
In the weeks that followed I saw more doctors and new medical equipment that I didn’t even know existed. My point is that I was telling you to take care of yourselves and then I crashed.
I share this with you because there were many lessons learned during this experience. I learned that I am not invincible and I can’t leap over tall buildings. Additional, I never knew one could experience such pain and survive.
The hardest thing for me was to ask for help, all kinds of help. I am on the mend thankfully but I want to leave you with this thought. I now take full responsibility for everything I have said that was inappropriate and anything I’ve done that may have hurt you and caused you pain.
I ask that you forgive me and I promise to do better next time. I hope I can live the rest of my life in a more graceful way.
Hangar Flying
Show me someone sitting on an aviation ticket of some type that hasn’t sat around a table sipping a favorite beverage and telling a war story that’s about as exciting as watching butter melt. You’ll hear about a crosswind landing that approached hurricane force, 17 knots, and the near miss when two airplanes missed each other by two zip codes.
After you’ve caught your breath someone brings up the instructor that almost flunked his or her while doing his or her bi annual. Can you stand all this excitement? Hey, can I get some more coffee please?
Of course these princes of the sky have known some real heart stoppers like a seat belt engine out or maybe a flat tire. Either way we all must keep this excitement in prospective. I didn’t mention falling out of the airplane because I didn’t want to scare anyone.
Let me say a few words about those dudes that work on your airplanes, someone else’s airplane, and every club’s airplane, even the ones that are stolen. The only ones not on my list are those reprocessed ones. Take a moment to notice and express your appreciation and respect for what they do, rain or shine, without them we are just a taxi company with wings.
Attention On Deck
Getting back to keeping things in prospective, try this one on for size. A few years ago I was having dinner up north at a really nice place to be named at a later date. I love saying “up north;” there I go again regressing, before I’ve even started eating.
I was sitting next to a well-known acrobatic pilot that I lovingly call the G-Wiz. Hard to believe he is also a grandfather. I’m not going to mention that he’s married to a gorgeous redhead. Sitting to my left was a somewhat quiet guy. I whispered to the grandfather on my right, do you know the quite guy at my nine? His response was negative. That’s aviator talk for “no.”
Being a shy kinda guy I introduced myself. I could see how excited he was to meet me. As I recall he took another sip of his water and barely said a word.
G-Wiz and I thought it would be exciting for him if we told him who we where and that he was sitting with two airshow stars, so we did but he wasn’t.
At that point I was looking for reasons not to like him. He was tall, young, and good looking; all the things I use to be 25 years before I met him.
Man Overboard
OK, now it’s time to ask him who he is and what was he doing here with us. To start with he was Lt. Commander Neil “Waylon” Jennings. Damn, I hate when someone is living my dream. He told us about making a high speed pass by some aircraft carrier to be named if it sinks, when all of a sudden his F-14 disintegrated and he found himself with a lot of wind in his face. There wasn’t enough of that F-14 to even recognize it. Wow! That’s scarier than a crosswind landing for sure. (Please don’t challenge me on this, I have a video to prove it – standard navy procedure, not mine, theirs.)
Neil reminded me some years later that the lowest bidder made most of these war birds. He showed me the video of his personal Airshow some time later and it was better than any other act I’d ever seen. He learned his lesson with F-14s and quickly moved over to the F-18s. May I have another cup of coffee please?
I invite you and your coffee club to join millions of others to meet and greet Waylon Jennings, when he speaks at the Hiller Aviation Museum (San Carlos Airport, Calif.) on Jan. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There is a lot more to this story and we’d love to share it with you. We may even raffle off an F-18. Psssst, hey Lar, that part – the raffle of the F-18 – has been cancelled.
We will be celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the navel aviation; we will also have the privilege and pleasure of introducing and hearing from Marland Townsend, former Capt. of the USS Kitty Hawk and Bill Larkin a navy historian. I am flattered and very excited being asked to MC this event. I hope you’ll come and give me a salute, but a handshake will do.
Up Close and Personal
I always like to share a few personal family things with you just in case it should reach out and touch one of you. As a few of you might know my Mother is now 90 years old. Yeh I know, wow! My Mom is Polio survivor and there are probably some of you that don’t’ know what that means. I’m glad some of you don’t know; go ask your grandparents, they will know.
Later this month I will travel to the great state of Texas. You can be sure I would only be going if it was for something really important and this is. I will be walking my daughter down aisle grinning from ear to ear as my tears drip down on my rented tux. Not that it matters, but the shirt, shoes and tie, are mine and so is the fancy jewelry. I suppose this pretty much moves to the top of my personal and emotional list.
Ho, Ho, Ho!
I hope all of you had a great holiday season with all those people that are special in your life. I hope this year will be a happy one for you and a better year for our troops in uniform keeping us safe.
That’s Thirty!
“Over”
