An act of kindness that hits the heart

[A37575]

Friend of mine related a touching story last weekend that I thought would be a change from some of the heavy stuff we read on local Pprune.

He was washing his light twin that was parked `airside`next to the Berlin Wall type fence designed to keep out the great unwashed who love watching aeroplanes close up. He saw people watching him from a car parked up against the fence. It was a grandfather, his daughter and small boy about three.

My friend who was a former RAAF fighter pilot and now nearly 80, recalled the time when he was an eleven year old in the Sydney Air League and along with a bunch of other Air Leaguers were given a boat ride on Sydney Harbour to visit Rose Bay to see the flying boats. Their boat came alongside a Catalina flying boat that was being serviced and the children in their uniforms were invited aboard. One of the Catalina engineers lifted him up and put him in the captains seat.

There he was allowed to turn the control wheel and he watched as the ailerons moved up and down. He described that moment as the experience of his life and decided from then on he wanted to be a pilot when he grew up. Well, he didn't do too badly because ten years later he was flying Sabres and Meteors in the RAAF and later was awarded the Air Force Cross.

With that memory in mind, he walked to the fence and invited the grandad, daughter and little boy to come inside the anti-terrorist fence and see his flying machine close up - instead of behind a barrier. He then asked the young mother if her little boy would like to sit in the pilot's seat and wiggle the ailerons. The little child was so excited and wiggled the ailerons with a big smile. After photos were taken the mother thanked my friend, adding wistfully that she wished her daughter could have been there with them.

My friend said no problem, let me know when you are coming this way again and your daughter can have a go, too. The mother hesitated and looked at the little boy and said thank you so much for your kindness but our daughter has gone to live in heaven. She was just five years old when she died of an inoperable tumour..

[propelled]

awesome story..
I had an experience when i was 8years old(1989), SYD-NAN(Fiji), i think the old man told the hostess that i liked aeroplanes, and I got to visit the cockpit with another couple of kids onboard.. still remember it to this day.. Captain showed us how he turned the aircraft etc.. and can remember tellin all my mates about it at school... probably more of a highlight then the actual holiday!
its a shame the young kids of today miss out on that kinda stuff, although its great that stories like the above are still out there:ok:
cheers guys!

[jas24zzk]

Its this sort of thing that ignites the passion :ok:

[maehhh]

I had an experience when i was 8years old(1989), SYD-NAN(Fiji), i think the old man told the hostess that i liked aeroplanes, and I got to visit the cockpit

I had the same experience probably at the same age on a night flight somewhere above Europe. I don't think I will ever forget the stunning look of that fully illuminated cockpit with what I assumed to be one million buttons and screens scattered all over the place. And I still remember what the captain told me about flying :ok:

[Jack Ranga]

its a shame the young kids of today miss out on that kinda stuff

You can blame your 'elected' (meaning minority, non elected unrepresentative swill, sorry Paul!) moron, fear mongering arseclowns in Canberra for that, 11 months to go?

[DX Wombat]

The brilliant, young FI who taught me to fly had a similar experience and followed his ambition through with hard work at school and weekend jobs to pay for lessons. He now flies for a big UK airline and his passengers couldn't be in safer hands.

[mcgrath50]

You can blame your 'elected' (meaning minority, non elected unrepresentative swill, sorry Paul!) moron, fear mongering arseclowns in Canberra for that, 11 months to go?


This ridiculous movement towards over securing was started by the guys in the blue corner after 9/11. Every country did it no matter what side of politics was in government at the time.

[Jenna Talia]

Every country did it

Not to the extent of this place. I just returned from the USA and after visiting some of the their GA airfields, leads to the conclusion that we are an international embarrassment :ugh:

A37575 - A brilliant story :ok:

[dogcharlietree]

Many, many, many moons ago, I was taxying a DC-3 north at Launy and out of the corner of my eye and over my left shoulder I caught a glimpse of something moving.
Yes it was a young boy being held in his mother's arms waving (but waning, as we had passed him). Quick as a flash I threw him the biggest wave I could manage. Well, he almost jumped out of his mum's arms.
I will never forget it. Made me feel good. Somehow, I think he would remember it too.

[Jack Ranga]

This ridiculous movement towards over securing was started by the guys in the blue corner after 9/11. Every country did it no matter what side of politics was in government at the time.

Uhhhhmmmm, the boys in blue don't pass legislation, the unrepresentative swill (both party's) do :ok:

[Jack Ranga]

I just returned from the USA and after visiting some of the their GA airfields, leads to the conclusion that we are an international embarrassment

Having just done the same and having just crawled over multiple US military aircraft without a jack boot in sight I'm in violent agreement :ok: Australia? Yep, we know best :ok: not.........

[VH-XXX]

When I was a whipper-snapper I used to wave at aircraft flying over and none ever waved back so now I always make a point of waving my wings back when I see people waving at me. It at least might help brighten someone else's day.

You miss out on the personal touch behind these large fences, much prefer chatting to bystanders at the local field.

[SIUYA]

I had the same experience probably at the same age on a night flight somewhere above Europe. I don't think I will ever forget the stunning look of that fully illuminated cockpit with what I assumed to be one million buttons and screens scattered all over the place.

My first visit to a cockpit was also at night, on a Vickers Viscount - I think it was on a trip from Cooma to Melbourne, and I was about 9 y.o. at the time.

Like maehhh, I never forgot the experience. :)

[Centaurus]

Please forget the slight thread drift. In the old days at Moorabbin you could buy a joy flight from pilots who touted for business over the fence opposite to where the Pilot Shop is now. I decided to give our young son and his Mum a joy flight.

The bloke on airside behind the fence was dolled up in his pilot suit with big wings, Breitling watch (I presumed cos it was a bloody big watch) and stripes and a cravat. I handed over the cash and we hopped the fence (it was low) and climbed into the Warrior. The wife and kid went into the back seats and I asked him if I could sit in the front. The pilot said no problem. The engine was started and he taxied real fast so he could get more trips in before flying stopped for the day. He did the run up while taxiing dragging the brakes at 2000RPM while checking the mags.

This prick's a cowboy I thought, so I decided to take a closer interest in what I had got my family into. I didn't tell him I was a RAAF pilot. Now a long time go I took off in a Wirraway with the mag switch on one mag only. At the time my student had done the run-up and as his instructor in the back seat of the Wirra I made the cardinal sin of not noticing the magneto switch was not on Both before we launched. The Wirra engine started to bang and splutter at 200 ft and in doing a swift trouble check it was then I saw the Mag switch not on Both. Fixed that one real quick and the engine ran OK then.

I learned a big lesson to not always trust the other pilot blindly. Now back to the pilot with the cravat taxiing like the wind at MB with me, wife and kid as his admiring audience. We were cleared for one circuit and as he was about to roll I leaned over to check if the key was on Both. I think he thought I was being a bit familar as my shoulder leaned against his. Well, the bloody mag switch was not on Both. In his blinding haste to run up on the run he had left it on one mag position only.

"Excuse me old mate" I said casually. "That key there - shouldn't it be on Both?" He looked at me with that superior look as if talking to a bogan. Well maybe he was. But it was a RAAF bogan who knew what a cowboy was.

He saw the problem and switched the mag key to Both. "Have you flown before"? he asked. Just a little bit I said recalling my first trip in a Mustang a few years previously. The rest of the trip went Ok but I am glad I picked the problem with the mag key position especially with my family on board.

[Fantome]

Sometimes it's a friendly wave. Sometimes a kiss is blown. And sometimes it's a singular digit constituting reply.

Back in the good old days there camped on the eastern outskirts of Alice Springs an old dear by the name of Olive Pink. Today if you visit you will find a nature park there named in her honour. Miss Pink, for showering arrangements, had a six foot hessian screen enclosing the shower, open to the sky.

She was something of an anthropologist, a friend of Daisy Bates in fact. One of her fortes was the writing of letters, often of long and detailed complaint. She planted many trees on her patch, which she named individually after various politicians and other public luminaries. Many were the letters she wrote to these people, threatening to no longer water them if they did not mend their ways.

On several occasions she was prompted to write stinging letters to Eddie Connellan, the managing director of Connellan Airways. The burden of her complaint was that his pilots often seemed to know when she was having a shower, for they would fly low over her. And wave. And sometimes come round again for they were nothing better than a bunch of depraved, privileged voyeurs.

At the forthcoming reunion in Alice of those who worked and flew under the 'Populate of Perish' banner of the late EJ, a glass or two will be raised in salute to the unforgettable Miss Pink.

[Wally Mk2]

Thanks 'A' for sharing that story with us all here, it does make you wonder how fortunate we are to be alive.

I recall one of the saddest experiences I'm ever likely to have.
Some years ago now on a non urgent & somewhat routine mission (sad to say) to retrieve a young boy back to ML for cancer treatment I had a very moving experience. The young boy who had lost his hair & who could barely walk up the steps into the old Beech looked starstruck at the cockpit full of dials & gauges.His mother whom was accompanying him to the Melb based hossy mentioned that her son aged around 8 yrs old if I recall loved planes & wanted to be a fighter pilot. Well I checked with the paramedic & his mum & promptly asked if he would like to sit in the pilots seat & hang onto the control wheel for aminute, his eyes lit up like saucers! It took a bit of effort to get him in place with tubes hanging out of the poor kid but once in the seat that boy sat there dumbfounded,almost motionless hands gripping the column like it was his last wish.................the paramedic & mum where sitting behind me chatting out of my view, just as well as I had tears streaming down my face..........................you just never appreciate the little things in life 'till it hits home hard!
I never followed upon any of the medical cases as it was tuff enough as it was sometimes.
We now live in an ugly world where fewer & fewer people care...........how sad:sad:


Wmk2

[dogcharlietree]

Wally Mk2
Good post.

[gnomie]

Many years ago operating a Dash from Bne to Central Qld the FA asked if a young UM could visit the cockpit (pre 9/11), certainly bring him up. The young man stood in the entrance to the cockpit amazed at the scene before him while engaging in the usual small talk associated with cockpit visits. Since he was traveling as an unaccompanied minor we offered him the jump for our arrival at his home port. Having plenty of time to get him seated before TOPD (with assistance from the FA) he settled in and continued to look on.

When asked what he wanted to do when he grew up he calmly said that he would not be growing up as he was suffering from a terminal illness, and was on his way home from hospital. This news changed the mood of the cockpit, fortunately we still had 15-20 minutes before TOPD. His parents could not afford to travel with him to hospital relying on aunts etc. while he was in Brisbane.
The subsequent approach and landing was uneventful. As we taxied off the runway he could see his parents as they were waving to him in the cockpit, after shutdown we asked if he would like to turn off the seatbelt sign so the other passengers could get off. He gladly accepted our invitation with a great big smile.

During the walk around and paper work duties in the terminal his mother came over thanking us for giving her son the best flight he had ever had. Each time I passed through that port I asked as to the boys condition, sadly, the flight he got to turn off the seat belt sign with a big smile was his last flight. As sad as it was to be given the news both Ray (F/O) and I felt priviliged for being able to share his last flight.

[Jack Ranga]

My sister was doing a flight to Alice Springs for a conference (she's a nurse) I told the departures controller my sisters seat number to pass to the pilot to see if she could get a look up front. When her flight flight came onto my sector her voice came over the air/ground with the position report, what a hoot! You could hear the chuckles in the background as she was reading out what what the pilots had written for her!

My other sister (also a nurse!) was on flight to LA with the hubby and young kids on the dream 'Disneyland trip' when the dollar was about fiddy cents. Passed the details up front. The pilot said to the kids 'I'm gunna need you all to walk to the other side of the cockpit so we can turn the aircraft' As the aircraft approached the way point where it was going to turn he said 'now' and the kids waked to the other side of the cockpit and the wings rolled. They still talk about it 15 years later :D

What a sorry arsed world it has turned into. We let moron religions dictate our every action through idiot politicians...........

[Naki Boy]

I remember when I was a child around the age of 8 I was flying to a village near the border of PNG and Papua. I was the only passenger in this MAF Cessna 206. I couldn’t believe my luck not only did I get to sit in the front seat along with the pilot (I had to sit on my mums lap most times in the back), but I was able to hold the controls. What an experience to have as a young child I felt like all my birthdays had come at once. It was that moment that I believe birthed a dream to want to become a pilot. Sadly a few months later the pilot was tragically killed in an accident somewhere in the Highlands. I think we can all forget the little things that can impact people’s lives in an incredible way.

Thanks for sharing :D

Naki Boy

[MakeItHappenCaptain]

I would like to thank Dennis, an army major (at the time) who after chatting to my old man at Casino airport, took me out to the Porter, said which buttons to press, turn and hold and directed my first aircraft startup (and remembered experience).

I have recently discovered Dennis' identity and look forward to actually shaking his hand.:ok: