Jack,

Thank you for sharing a terrific experience. Your post reminded me
of an unforgettable trip we made about this time last year. We flew
from New York to Northern Minnesota (with a stop in Michigan). The
'unspoken' purpose was to give a dying man one of his last wishes. My
sister-in-law's husband, Bill, had always been an aviation enthusiast.
Bill had been in very poor health with a lung capacity of about 20%
resulting from silicosis, a bout with TB and aggravated by years of
heavy smoking. Bill finally quit few years back when he was near death
with emphysema and pneumonia. By then, it was too late. In his
healthier days, Bill was an avid sportsman enjoying being outdoor all
day be it boating, fishing, riding his four-wheeler around his
300-acres property. In the last few years, he was confined in his home.
The only movements were to drag his oxygen tank from the bedroom to
the computer room to play few games (submarines, fishing and of course
flight simulations). Ever since we got our plane, Bill always
expressed his wish to get a ride. Knowing his days were numbered, we
made our trip up north hoping to fulfill his wish.

When we got there, his condition was even worse. He did not even
have enough strength to sit up for a computer game. However, he was
bound and determined to go for a ride. Loaded with morphine pills
which he had to take every few hours to relieve pain and to help with
the breathing, Bill dragged his oxygen tank and slowly made it to the
car. Sandy, Rick's sister helped him with the steps while Rick carried
the extra oxygen tank. We made it to airport and got Bill in the front
seat. We took off from Baudette's airport over the winding river
separating Canada and the US. Away we float about the fall landscape
with golden brown farmland and bright yellow tamarack woods. Bill's
health and spirit seemed to lift up with the plane. He became animated
and started to give Rick's directions. The worst passenger was Sandy
in the backseat with me. She clutched the hand strap tightly and lost
all the color on her face the moment the wheels were off the ground.
It seemed that she had a bad case of acrophobia and would not have
gotten in the plane if it weren't for Bill.

It wasn't long before we reached their property. Rick made several
big circles around the house for me to snap pictures. Bill wanted Rick
to fly over several special spots to check the beaver dams, the
repaired bridge (which was washed away in the flood which destroyed
their home few years ago. They had just moved back to a new house few
months before our visit) etc. He was in his glory surveying his
beautiful 'kingdom'. By then, Sandy had overcame her fear and started
to enjoy viewing their land with acres of trees ablaze in the sun
light.

We flew for about half an hour then headed back to Baudette airport.
Bill got enough strength left to pose by plane with Sandy for a
picture. His energy was pretty much sapped away by the time we got
back to the house 15 minutes later. Even with another morphine pill,
he could barely made the few steps of the staircase and were pretty
much in bed the rest of our visit.

The next day, we took a 'gaggle' of their grand children and friends
for plane rides, 3 at a times with Rick and I taking turns piloting.
We had given quite a few rides before to our nephews, nieces and some
friends' children. The big-city kids certainly enjoyed the rides but
the expressions of these frontier town kids were memorable. They
gasped and squealed with delight. One kid kept saying things like:"Oh
my gosh, this was the most incredible thing that I had ever done in my
life" "This is just so sweet" etc. Of course, we let the kid who sat in
the front seat manipulated the controls. One of them, a quiet and
sensitive boy devoted his concentration on the control until a flock of
birds flew by forming a perfect V silhouetting against the setting sun.
He asked to take a picture which turned out perfect.

We stayed there for 3 days giving half a dozen flights. There were
still two more kids who take the last ride but the weather turned bad
with forecasting snow. We left early the next morning after spending
almost an hour defrosting the plane. We had to divert quite a bit
south to avoid low ceiling and barely made it to Chicago area with
1500' ceiling. The trip solidified our plan to get instrument ratings
the next spring.

Shortly after our visit, Bill was readmitted to the hospital with
another bout of pneumonia. He managed to hang on for another year in
and out of the hospital. He passed away two weeks ago at the age of 56,
a year after his last plane ride. The ride we gave him was priceless.

Hai Longworth