I have always loved airplanes. I still have some black and whites of planes on final at Meigs Field in Chicago that I took with my little Kodak Brownie camera around age 11. I built my first stick and paper model airplane around the same time. U-Control and free flight models followed, up through my teenage years. Radio control was beyond my budget.

By a stroke of luck a schoolmate got me invited on a Sunday outing with his mom and dad in their Beechcraft Bonanza when I was 12. Bax Seat, but hey, it was my first time up. Little else could I think of for a long while.

Luck struck again when I was around 15. A young man that I knew from around the neighborhood said that I could go with him when he was going to fly the next Saturday. He was going to practice for his upcoming commercial rating practical test. I was elated. I pedaled my bicycle 16 miles from home to General Mitchell Field in Milwaukee and waited, and waited. No show. I went over to the snack bar and ordered a burger and a malted milk to go. I stood at the fence and ate, and sipped, and waited some more. Two to three hours after the scheduled time, he showed up and we launched in a Piper Tri Pacer. After steep turns and stalls we went into a spin series. I was too sick to be scared. Thank goodness I still had the empty malted milk cup, although it wasn't empty when we landed. Probably my best day of that whole year.

In my thirties, the company I worked for sent me on a charter flight from Phoenix to Riverside, CA in a Cessna 172/182/210. I did not know one from the other. On the way back around 3AM, fuel was closed so we flew from Riverside to Ontario and the pilot borrowed $10 from me so we could get enough fuel to make it back to Phoenix safely. It took me at least an hour to get up enough gumption to ask him if I could " fly it for awhile. " I had no idea what a pilot would answer to a brash question like that. We were halfway home, over the Colorado River, at that time. The pilot was also a flight instructor. He told me what to aim for and every time I got the up-down part stabilized, the left-right was askew. By the time I had that fixed; the up-down meter was off. He never mentioned trim (he he). After a lot of persistent concentration, I had that thing going to Phoenix. Over the city he said " see that beacon light, that's the airport, aim for it. " He was doing all of the power, mixture, and flap manipulations. I was aiming. When we went over the airport fence he said " see that center line, aim for it. " Somewhere around five feet off the deck he said " I'll take it now. " He made a beautiful landing. See, I knew nothing about flaring and would have landed nose wheel first. I told everyone I knew about my " wonderful piloting adventure."

In my 20's and 30's I did what many highs school graduates do, raised a family and worked my butt off. No money for airplanes. No money period. I did join the CAP to get closer to planes and pilots but had to discontinue that endeavor in 1968 when I had to take a night job. It was second shift in a grocery warehouse.

I must have been extremely lucky (or gifted). After 3 years in the warehouse, I was selected as their newest computer operator trainee. Eleven years later I was selected as their newest computer programmer trainee. Shortly after the company president awarded me my 20 year pin, the company closed down. I was then an applications programmer but we all were out of work. I bought my first PC. I flew MS Flight Simulator all over America. After about six months of Flight Simulator, I told my wife that I was getting sick of the same old scenery, and if I was going to see any better scenery, I would have to fly a real airplane. I went shopping for a flight school.

I chose Skyhawk Aviation in Corona and learned in N49393, a nice Cessna 152. I was just four days shy of turning 49 when I started my lessons. The team of Patti Mattison, Bob (Doc) Noland, and Chris Bennett gave me good instruction and I soloed at 18 hours with Chris watching from that gazebo that sits near the base of the tower at Chino's airport. That day ranks right up there with my wedding day as far as memories are concerned. The following February, my check ride examiner, John Isaacson, said to me while we were over Lake Mathews " I'll fly it back, this is the only time I get to fly. You're a private pilot now. " That's when I knew I had passed, and that's the first time I had the time to really look at the scenery from an airplane, and it was good.

Skyhawk Aviation closed operations around that time and so I started renting from Paradise Aviation, just down the street. Over the course of the next 3 1/2 years I flew 95 times, in a Cessna 150, three 152's, five 172's, three Piper PA28's, and a Grumman AA-1B. By then my log book contained a whopping 150 hours.

John Cullen, the owner of Paradise Aviation was also an aircraft broker. One day in September of 1993, I asked him about a really nice red and white airplane that was parked right in with his rental planes. It was sharp looking compared to the Cessnas and it had a straightforward attitude on the ramp except for its backward tail feathers. He said it was a 1971 Mooney M20C, and that it was for sale, and that I could lease it back to Paradise as a rental, and did I want to go up for a demo ride? Turns out that the registration, airworthiness certificate, and empennage data plate on N6827V all say that it is an Aerostar.

Hook, line, and sinker, I bought the Aerostar/Mooney. I knew about flying, not airplane ownership. It had 2250 hours on the airframe and on the engine, not much for a 22 year old airplane. I was about to learn what TBO stood for. It had old radios including a tube type DME with an analog needle. I had to take more dual instruction before the insurance covered me to fly it solo. They wanted me to know that a Mooney lands smoother with the wheels down.

A year later at 2350 TTSN, I had the engine overhauled to factory new specs. The cylinders were Nu-Chromed. My savings were depleted. The renters broke it in. I think the money derived by leasing it back to Paradise was offset by the additional expenses the renters created. They also put plenty of hours on that engine. Tires and landing lights were not long for this earth. Plastic interior parts developed cracks. In the late 90s, I stopped leasing it back. If I had it to do all over, I don't think I would.

One of the worst experiences while leasing 27V back to the FBO was the day a flight instructor called in on the radio and said that the landing gear would not go down normally or manually. I happened to be on the airport with a handheld that afternoon. It was gut wrenching watching 27V make low approaches with the gear 80% extended. The student pilot aboard was not having a good day either as this was all a bit too much for him. After an hour of them trying everything in the book, they opted to go five miles to Chino where there was fire truck service available on the field. They slid right down the runway. I was too (fill in your own words) to go over there. A special truck lifted it up and the wheels were pulled down. Somebody jammed a wrench in the gear to hold it down in place, un-bent the prop, and flew it back to Corona! Turns out that a key came out of a keyway, jammed between a worm gear and a drive gear, and that there was absolutely no way that the pilot could extend the landing gear. More out of pocket expenses for me.

I flew the usual short flights from Corona, including Big Bear, Palm Springs, Lancaster, and Catalina. The furthest was Phoenix to the East, Las Vegas to the Northeast and Sacramento to the North. There were just not that many reasons for going anywhere.

Somewhere along here, I probably had the closest brush with a gear up landing, without actually doing it, of any of you. I was in the flare at Corona holding it off the deck while the speed bled off, when the stall warning horn came on. Instinctively I looked at the panel and the wrong color annunciator was illuminated. There was no time to decide whether to put the gear down or push the GO handle, (I have a throttle quadrant). My hand was on the throttle and we did GO. I had the inoperable gear warning horn repaired promptly and still test it often on approach.

I had 27V painted around 1997. A new Mitchell com radio and Garmin 340 audio panel replaced old equipment. A used 618 loran came along for $150. Everything else is pretty old. It still has a King KX170 nav/com, probably factory installed.

Joe Aldendifer came along around 1998 and wanted to fly 27V. He treated it very well and put some quality hours on it. Joe also talked me into getting a hangar and now I would never go back outside. In 2001 we bought a 1981 M20J together but before 27V could be sold, he changed his mind and bought out my share. I kept 27V. Joe and I are now hangar neighbors.

I finally went ahead and bought a Garmin 295 color moving map GPS. What a revelation that was. I could now fly under the floor of class B airspace or two miles from the edge of restricted airspace and be confident that I knew where I was.

Another guy who shall remain nameless wanted to fly 27V. He flew it a few times but then had a prop strike late in 2002. The insurance company covered the tear down inspection and propeller overhaul. The engine had 1500 hours SMOH. I decided to go for the complete overhaul while it was apart anyway. This time new SAP Millennium cylinders were installed. The aluminum engine baffle box was rebuilt and powder coated white. I sanded and painted the engine mount and firewall. It was cleaner than my kitchen in there. A new JPI EDM-700 was installed. All that new stuff gave me a renewed incentive to fly and I started doing more 100 mile trips in 2003.

Later in 2003 I received a postcard from this Richard fellow discussing a vintage Mooney fly-in if enough people were interested. That postcard sure came to the right mailbox. The first fly-in, to Jean NV in August 2003, was for me, the flying part of my tenth year of participating in the FAA Wings program. The VMG has finally given me a reason for going somewhere. Thanks guys.

   

   

I just had the interior redone and am thinking of finally upgrading the avionics. Maybe an STEC System Thirty with altitude hold and a Garmin 430 to drive it. Maybe a King KX155 and a good CDI with glide slope. I stress over putting $20,000 in the panel when remembering that I picked up 27V for only $27,500 in the first place. It never ends.

Now with 420 VFR hours,

Ed Shreffler
August 2004