The Brazos Breeze

Captain John Miller gave the talk at our August meeting. What a fascinating man he is with all of his Aviation experience and lore. He is 96 years old and still flying his Bonanza and Baron. Imagine taking 4 people on a barnstorming flight for 50 Seconds, hour after hour. (In,-flight,-out=50 Seconds) This kept up for a total of 63000 people in two seasons! Also, taking up his first paying passenger on his 3rd solo in 1923 after dual instruction consisting of having studied a "how-to" manual on flying from England! He pioneered Autogyro flight, inaugurating Mail service from the roof of the Philadelphia Post office to the Airport. Made a round trip transcontinental flight with his own Pitcairn autogyro and then used it in airshows in the early 30's. (Loops and Immelmans among other maneuvers)

   John is truly unique. Ruth Law took him on one of his first flights in 1913. He was a good friend of Howard Stark, who was the first to figure out how to fly IFR. (The 1-2-3 method; rudder to stop the turn, then level the wings, and finally level pitch; it was still being taught in WW-II.) He mastered that technique as did Lindbergh, whom he saw off on his historic flight. Later he did the production and experimental flight testing of the Grumman J-2F. [Two dead stick landings (IFR) into Floyd Bennett.] He flew the Boeing 247D for United and then flew DC-2's, 3's, 4's, 6's, 7's, 8's plus 4 versions of the "Connie" and the Lockheed Electra for Eastern airlines. John Miller stayed over until Monday and then left in his Bonanza for Bakersfield to visit a grandchild (He has 9, plus 9 great-grandchildren) and then on to San Diego for the 70th anniversary celebration of his transcontinental flight in the Pitcairn autogyro.

   Rhody Addison told us briefly about his Oshkosh session which your Chapter partially underwrote. He enjoyed and benefited tremendously. Got some hands-on experience making a wood and fabric wing section and aileron. Way to go Rhody!

   Art Lombas whom we also underwrote, told us about the challenges in the International ultralight championships in Spain. He said that on the cross country all he saw were trees, rocks and olive groves. He finished 9th in a field of 23. Not too bad when you consider that his ultralight arrived the night before the competition was to start.

   Thanks to Dick and Debbie Keyt for lending us their air conditioned hangar and also to Carla Boyd and Kathleen Bales for refreshments. We had 117 attendees and 15 aircraft including Huffs "White Lightning".

See And Be Seen: That is the mantra we have all grown up with in our flying careers; yet how many times have we called out "no joy" when ATC calls out traffic at 12 and closing? Marv. Jensen sent me an "e" mail from a friend which I will extract. There are two ways we can make our aircraft more visible to others; paint color/schemes and lights. A "busy" paint scheme can make your bird harder to see in the air. Take a look at the photo at the right.( Page 56 in Apr. 2001 "Sport Aviation") The closer RV is not as visible as the farther. Also, safety studies conducted by automobile insurance Companies have shown that white is the first color to be seen by other drivers. The other "visibility aid" is lights. A German WWII ace was said to have seen P-51's many miles away by the glint of sunlight on their polished aluminum skins. Bare aluminum is a real chore to maintain, but we can do much the same thing with strobes. Pulsing strobes in the daytime may not seem too effective, but they are. Turning on landing lights in high traffic density situations is also helpful. The collision you avoid may just be your own!

This came to me courtesy of an "e" mail friend. It's nice to have good news once in a while. -Ed.

On November 1, 1986 a corporate jet owned by Coca-Cola arrived at Elisabeth City, North Carolina carrying the CEO and Acting-President of the Word Foundation and several members of the board of directors. Shortly after they had left the airport for a meeting in town, a series of events began to unfold which drove one man to create what we know today as Corporate Angel Network or "Angel Flight". A Coast Guard Falcon 20 was beginning its takeoff roll at Elisabeth City when it blew both front wheels causing the jet to veer off the runway and run into a fence line. The jet was headed to Memphis, TN to pickup a little girl by the name of Crystal Grant and carry her to Good Samaritans Children's Hospital in Houston, TX to undergo a liver transplant. The pilots of the Coca-Cola plane watched the events and slowly began to hear the stories about the jet's mercy mission. After a few hours the CEO and his passengers returned to the airport witnessed the scene and asked the pilots what was going on. Once the CEO learned of the situation he asked to be taken to the Coast Guard Station so he could speak with the station commander. Once there he asked him if there was anything he could offer, or do. The Commander said, in a frustrated voice, "Yeah, can you make miracles happen? We need a jet and we need one fast." The CEO just smiled and said "you've got one" and pointed to his company jet. Within two hours the Coca-Cola jet was on its way to Memphis and the situation seemed under control. But, unbeknownst to them, a similar scene was playing out in San Diego where the donor organ was being prepared for transport to Houston. The aircraft lined up to take it to Houston had lost its ability to pressurize its cabin and a similar scramble was under way to find a replacement. Calls went out and everyone made excuses from corporate CEO's to airline managers as to why they just couldn't help out. Once word made its way to Elisabeth City the situation was reaching its last window of opportunity for the surgeons. Time was now becoming an enemy. Again the CEO of Coca-Cola was called upon to help out and he jumped on the phone with his pilots, now in Houston. They told him there was just no way they could go and retrieve the organ and return to Houston in time for the operation to take place. The CEO began to think and ponder what would be speedy enough to retrieve it in time. A call was placed to the Governor of Georgia and he then placed a call to the Governor of California requesting help. On that day sitting on the ramp at NAS Miramar were 6 brand new F/A-18Ns and 2 F/A-18B's (two-seaters) wearing the colors of the Blue Angels, as the team prepared to debut them to the world on November 6. It only took 4 phone calls to reach the base commander and 2 more to reach the commander of the "Blues." 1:55 minutes later, Navy Lt. Tony Less, in Blue Angel # 8, was gear up eastbound with his precious cargo strapped into the rear Martin Baker ejection seat - held in place by four dress belts. Unbeknownst to the family or anyone in Houston, while all of this was unfolding, the local media had interviewed the little girl moments before she was placed into the prepping room for her surgery. A reporter asked her if she was scared. She responded, "No, I'm not worried. My mommy told me that my Angel will watch over me." It was an ironic statement indeed. At that moment Blue Angel #8 was coming off an Air National Guard tanker over Western New Mexico and making a mad dash for Houston. The clock was still ticking, and with each movement of the hand, went further against the surgeons. With only 90 minutes to spare, Angel #8 turned final to Houston's Hobby Rwy 4L and rolled out to a stop surrounded by police cars and an ambulance to rush the organ to the hospital.
   To sum up this story, the transplant was successful and Crystal returned home to Memphis in time for Thanksgiving. The CEO of Coca-Cola lobbied the Fortune 100 companies to create Corporate Angel Network, the name inspired by the Blue Angels. To this day Blue Angel #8 wears a small silhouette of an Angel praying on the canopy rail and the name "Crystal" written underneath. A little over a month after the surgery the "Blues" made a planned detour to Memphis to say hi to a little girl named Crystal. And it was on that day, December 18, 1986 that Crystal met her angel, the angel who saved her life. That was 15 years ago. Today Crystal is 25 and every year she is personally invited to attend a show near her home in Memphis as the guest of honor of the Blue Angels.