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9-11-2002: Delta State Defiance
Following the progression of events in fall 2001, many flight schools were out of business for a while so that we could wait for the FAA to decide what to do. After 30 days of grounding, they finally let Delta State resume flight operations, which disturbed training for an entire semester, to say the least. On the one year aniversary of this day, the officials in DSU's Flight Operations department decided to come up with some type of event that would demonstrate our triumph over evil and all of that stuff.So, they sectioned off a block of time on the flight schedule, and went to work.
The idea was to take as many airplanes as we could find, and fly them over the center of the campus at noon. At first, we thought they were joking. After all, we weren't trained to fly in formation. But then, we started to realize that it was probably in our best interest to shut up and play along; after all, this had never been done before, and we were honored to have the chance to participate.
After a sneaky Sunday afternoon practice flight, we were ready to go. When the time came, everything went pretty well. We managed to fly 9 airplanes in a big V formation, and even made the local newspaper. Here are a few pictures. Special thanks to Frank, who took all of the in-airplane pictures. After all, it can be hard to fly and take pictures at once, and we had a few extra seats anyway.
Here is the lineup:
On the Left
1: Andrew "Head Man" Hill, Staff Flight Instructor
2: Charles "Stick-n-rudder" Metcalf, Chief Flight Instructor
4: SY "Sparky" Wilson
6: Doug "Soft-Hands" Harwell, Flight Instructor Extraordinare;
8: Jared Yates and Frank "Cameraman" Whittington, Flight Instructor and Flight Activities Coordinator
On the Right
3: Chip "Wher-de-go" Cooper, Director of Flight Operations
5: Trey "Aint A-scared" McClure, Assistant Chief Flight Instructor
7: Travis "Big O" Orgeron, Flight Instructor of the Year 2042
9: Ike "Twin Brother" Walters, Flight Instructor and Trained Killing Machine
Key Books, ready for dispatch
"Yeah Paula, we really are experts. Aren't you impresed? Really, it's just all in a day's work."
Here's the lineup, as we all get ready
"Chug! Chug! Chug!" The leader gets ready to take a shot of oil
Oh, nevermind; that's what he is going to do with it. We'll just have to wonder if he ever slipped in a little gulp off camera.
Ready for departure
"Cleveland Traffic, Delta State 7 Departing Runway 35, Cleveland..."
First, we joined the left side.
Then, the right side.
The view from 1000 feet AGL.
As you can see, here we are finally joined up, about 6 minutes into the flight. I planned to have pictures of the remainder of the flight, but my digital camera took a little siesta. Speaking of which, if you are ever going to buy an SiPix SC-2300 Deluxe Digital Camera, be sure to email me before you do. I'll be glad to tell you about the many times it has let me down, including this one.
Easlin Moore was in the other corner with Ike, and he has a VHS video of the flight. As soon as I can find someone with the equipment to digitize the video, I'll put it on this page too.
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| This page last modified 03/27/09 | |||||