The folks who made it possible.
Thanks LSAW!
Gordon, Ultimate boss and wonderful Scottsman!
Bill, Steve and Sue.
Steve Blackwell, the head instructor who spent two days making sure Bill was proficient in this type of plane.
Sue Parker keeps the whole enterprise going.
Jess, Bill and Shawn.
Bill Boege, top mechanic who fielded many e-mails from Bill McC. and did a wonderful job of upgrading the instrument panel and all other things that needed to be done. And Jess, Bill's assistant.
Shawn Kelly, salesman, pilot and all around great person who shepherded us through the process from beginning to end.
Samantha, Bill, Shawn and Sue.
Samantha was usually in the hanger doing whatever one does to keep it organized.
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Waiting to Start .....
Febuary 15.
We got to the airport early in the morning, with every intention of taking off before noon. Things took a little longer than we had expected, but "No Worries," we were only going to go one short hop on the first day.
We decided to pick up a cable and then return the rented car around 1:00 PM, which would give us plenty of time to make our first stop. But...
We found Radio Shack and got the cable ok, but spent about 3 hours getting lost and asking for new directions from Enterprise! Helen´s always said that she´s very talented at getting lost, but this was ridiculous! Anyway, the Enterprise people finally told us to stay where we were and they´d send a car out for us to follow. It´s wonderful how easy it was then to find the Enterprise office!
Between finishing the modifications and getting lost, a flight that should have departed at 1:30 PM wasn´t ready until 5:10 PM. By then it was too late to take off and still make it to Camarillo before dark.
It really isn´t a good idea to take off on the maiden voyage when the pilot and navigator are stressed, tired, cross and the first landing will be in the dark. The people at LSAW convinced us to stay overnight. They were absolutely fantastic!! They arranged for us to stay in a motel, paid for it, drove us over and even picked us up in the AM. In two Mercedes Benz two-seat sports cars no less!!
