I've got two stories:

We were winching our 2-33 at Black Forest, I in the front seat and Karen
Serkowski (Tom's wife) in the back.Â* Karen was performing the landing
so, as we approached the crowd on the ground, I raised both hands so
they would know.Â* Next time around, I was doing the landing and Karen
was holding her hands in the air.Â* As we got on short final, I saw that
the whole crowd was holding their hands up in the air, so I took the
stick between my knees and held my hands up, too.Â* The 2-33 really can
land itself!

For the other story, I was asked to give a demo flight to a retired
Swedish airline pilot.Â* He was practically blind with glaucoma and told
me so.Â* Still, after gaining some altitude in the L-13, I offered him
the stick.Â* He declined, saying that he couldn't see to fly.Â* I told him
to fly and I would talk him through it.Â* As we flew, I would give him
suggestions to pull up a bit or turn left/roll out, and then I would
describe what I was seeing.Â* The smile on his face was wonderful!

He returned annually for a couple of years and always asked to fly with
me.Â* He also sent me cards every Christmas.Â* And then the cards
stopped.Â* I guess he flew west.Â* I was so glad to have given him the
experience that he so obviously missed.

On 4/15/2020 9:28 AM, wrote:
My sister, Diane, was/is one of the world's best crews (that's an applause line). My father was one of the world's best instructors. Diane was pretty young and had a bit of a confidence problem early on. She didn't always want to keep the controls when things got stressful. My father had a technique for that. Sitting in the back seat of the 2-33, he would rest his hands lightly on the student's shoulders, saying: "It's your airplane."

Diane wasn't having any of that, though. She would reach up and brush his hands away, then plop her own hands on her shoulders, saying, "Oh, no, it's your airplane".

After my father died, Diane decided to fulfill one of his dreams and resumed her lessons at another glider operation, soloing successfully not long after. I knew it wasn't her thing but I was very proud of her--and still am.

Chip Bearden
JB

--
Dan, 5J