MnPilots Hangar Flying

This summer has been a very bittersweet one for me, as we are not able to see two of our grandchildren as much as we have in the past. My wife and I received a phone call from our son asking if we would be around on a Sunday in April and we said sure, come on over.

The news we learned from them was pretty devastating to us in that they decided to move from Minnesota to Texas. this meant that our 5-year old grandson and three and a half year old granddaughter would no longer be living just a few miles from us. We were very saddened with the mews. After all, they were just at the age where Grandma and Grandpa could do some things with them one-on-one, something that we were really looking forward to.

For me, I looked forward to taking my Granddaughter and Grandson to the airport to let them sit in the airplane, to help give it a bath. I looked forward to teaching them about what happens when you move the control stick left, and to the right, in the super cub. I looked forward to the day when they would be old enough to go for a ride with "Papa," to see the world more in three dimensions.

The move would mean that we would be lucky to have them visit us only once a year. Our hearts were broken.

I wanted to share this with you to encourage you not to take for granted the time you have with your children and grandchildren, but rather to embrace every moment you have with them.

Aviation is a uniquely intriguing and interesting thing to children. An airplane flies low overhead at a little league baseball game and most, if not all, heads turn upward to see the flying machine.

My grandkids all look upward snd point at the airplanes when they hear them. Those who are old enough enjoy sitting in the cockpit, feeling the control stick or the yoke, making airplane noises.

The cover story in the Minnesota Flyer magazine a couple months ago captured that. the cover photo was particularly meaningful to me. There stood one very proud Steve Young, sharing the task of pulling his airplane out of the hangar with his little grandson. I had the chance to meet Steve, and told him that the photo both warmed my heart and broke my heart, in that my chances to share moments like that had sadly been drastically reduced.

I know one thing, though. I am not going to waste an opportunity to take my grandchildren to the airport or lift them into the cockpit. I want no regrets.

I wish the same for my fellow pilots as you are involved in your children or grandchildren growing up. Be involved, get them to the airport whenever you can. You, like Steve, will be glad you did.