"Gordon" wrote in message
...
My son was taking his inaugural flight today, thanks to a "Chuck Yeager -
Young
Eagle" program at Gillespie Field (El Cajon, CA). He was standing on the
wing
of a sparkling red Grumman Yankee, getting his preflight brief from the
owner
while various civil and antique a/c came and went on the active, a hundred
yards away. I saw a French thing sitting on the numbers, ready to go but
taking its time. Looked like a Beaver that had been rear-ended by a
Potez...
Single engine, shoulder wing, tail of a ... well.. a Potez or Leo - some
kind
of twin tail that sure looked out of place on the little 4-6 seater. At
long
last, the thing started making the appropriate amount of racket and took
off
down the runway. Lex was looking at his pilot - I was looking across the
cockpit at him, toward the runway. My eyes followed the a/c; thinking,
that
sure is a slow takeoff.. I don't think the tail ever came up. Answered a
question of Lex's and glanced back - gear is collapsing and its ground
looping
to the right, as if he aborted the T/O and tried to turn off with too much
speed. Fire truck rolled quickly to the scene, luckily no meat wagon was
called.

After a short wait, the field announced everything was good and Lex and
his
pilot took off, past the forlorn, wing-down kite. 15 minutes later, they
landed (he loved it) and taxied past the French-marked a/c, coming back
with a
smile. My wife should stop beating me shortly ("YOU SENT HIM UP AFTER THE
PLANE IN FRONT OF HIM_CRASHED_?"). I tried to make her understand that
mathematically, the chancesOWW Owww OWWW

ahem. Anyway - two questions: everyone ok? and what the heck was it?

Small GA is less safe than operating a motorcycle, on the road. (US) What
you were doing was never the safest thing. What would she say if you let
him go as a passenger on a motorcycle?