Shoup Airlines

My New Friends

About a month or two before I left for Basic, a friend of mine asked me if I was interested in towing gliders. Always wanting to try something new in aviation, I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, timing and other constraints didn’t allow me to do anything before departing for Basic.

Fast forward to last month and I was calling to see if the offer was still open. It was and we set about going through all the motions to allow me to tow gliders. Last weekend was the culmination of those efforts.

Meet Blue Max, he’s a Callair A9 originally used for crop dusting. Now he tows all sorts of people around in gliders. Don’t let his looks fool you, he’s definitely got some pep left in his step and is extremely nimble. I got introduced on Saturday and we immediately carried on like old friends.

This is Max’s partner in crime, Jaws. Usually when you fly a specific type of plane for the first time you have another pilot along with you to demonstrate the little nuances or tricks that plane might have up it’s sleeve for you, ESPECIALLY tailwheels. Max is a one seater and a tailwheel, so you don’t get a lot of “practice” time before you have to land him yourself. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous but more than ready for the song and dance. Throw in a 25 foot wide, dirt runway and the fun knob is on 11!

I don’t think I’ve ever met an easier tailwheel to land and tailwheels are not known for being intuitive landers. Ten landings later and I was thrown in a glider to see how tow operations worked from that end. After three of those, I had to tow a glider flown by an instructor three times and then I was ready to tow. Uh huh, sure I was…

But wait, there’s more! Did I mention that there are two dirt runways with somewhere around 500 feet between them? And on this other runway they run a skydiving operation where the skydivers often land between the two runways. So now picture a 200 foot tow rope dangling behind you, another aircraft departing the left runway TOWARDS YOU, and all these skydivers (that look like little flies) landing between the two runways, all while you’re trying to land on the runway to the right for another tow. And that’s only if one of the P-51s from Chino hasn’t decided to jump in front of you and buzz the strip. The fun factor is now on 19 and shows no sign of coming down soon. Nate, your TCAS would be going ballistic!

At the end of the day you’re exhausted, covered in dirt, sweaty and grinning from ear to ear. Before I can even put the thought together one of the glider pilots is handing me an ice cold beer. This is what flying was meant to be!