A story about as old as flying. Lawrence Sperry is generally credited with having developed the first practical autopilot - and with having earned the first mile high club pin with its aid.
There was a very prim n proper lady in her late 70s, who occasionally used to pop in to the bar on the airfield where I learnt to fly. One evening, at a wake for one of the old instructors, the good stories began coming out, one of which involved our heroine. Apparently she and the old boy we were toasting, had become very friendly during the course of her learning to fly. Finding the cockpit of a Vagabond lacking in the necessary space, nevermind the absence of autopilot, they formed the habit of landing at a favoured spot while supposedly undertaking multiple cross countries. One fateful day the weather forced the CFI to abandon his usual route for a flight test and while droning along thinking of ways to torment the student, spotted an aircraft parked next to a dirt road. Inquisitive, he chopped the throttle and left the student to "discover " the perfect forced landing area. Story goes; the pair were so involved that the sound of an idling A-65 didn't register until the (late) go around, by which time, all was revealed...
