Keeners - the next generation...
I was a keener, I lived and breathed aircraft. I hung around the airport, washed and fueled planes, and eagerly accepted the occasional offer of a ride. Those rides inspired me, and led me to be who I am in aviation. Our changed aviation culture, and worse, over eager airport security, has really reduced the opportunity for keeners.
So I was delighted to hear a knock at the door, while I dined as a guest with a few aging aviator buddies at my friend's lakeside home in Northern Ontario this past weekend. A very polite young fellow was presented to me by my hostess as wanting to see my plane, which he had seen pulled up on shore. I had just started to eat my dinner, so we insisted that he join us, while I finished. He was warmly welcomed by four very experienced pilots, of whom I am surely the junior. To have found us on the other side of the lake was no small challenge for him.
Afterword, we walked down the path, and to the plane. I invited him for a flight, which he eagerly accepted. It turns out he was a holidaying American visitor, whose family came over to meet us in their boats when I landed back. Interesting that they observed the plane has a Hartzell propeller. I learned that he and his dad worked making tools for Hartzell in Ohio. I mentored him as well as time allowed, but was reassured too that my host and his buddies have offered this young man some more flying, since I have returned home. I think he'll be flying in a Harvard and Bell 47 today...
Keeners are out there, but now their freedom to move among us is limited by culture and circumstance. Look for them, and inspire them, it's a big part of how we inject more life into our pastime and passion....