Abe Paster again did the honors for my Commercial Pilot checkride. N3594J stayed in the family until my dad sold it in 1973. A lawyer in Santa Barbara, who already owned a Beech Baron, bought it as a "second airplane" for his wife to fly. For years we didn't know what happened to 94J after that.. Thanks to a tip from a visitor to this website, we checked the Canadian registration database, and found that this airplane is now registered in Canada as C-GJYD. Total hours: 225
I trained for my Commercial and Instrument tickets at Custom Aircraft in Long Beach, and when instructor Jim Harris left Custom to go to Santa Barbara, I followed him there for my CFI training. CFI ticket in hand, Ken McGuire of Custom Aircraft (now Bel-Air) offered me a job as part-time instructor. Fleet in photo: American AA-1 N6190L (foreground), Navion Rangemaster N2434T, Lake LA-4 N6683L, McCulloch J-2 N4303G, and Beech J35 N7274B. Not shown: Cherokee 140's N95434, N95174, N8059N, N1805T, N1937T. Total hours as of 19 April 1971: 397
The McCulloch J-2 Gyroplane was an autogyro powered by a 180-hp Lyc. O-360 with a wooden pusher propeller, lift supplied by an autorotating rotor system similar to that of a Hughes 300 helicopter. It was advertised to have the advantages of both rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, but in truth was beset by the disadvantages of both, and was never a success. It held only two people and cruised at 95 mph. It could not hover; it needed 1200 feet of runway to clear a 50-foot obstacle on takeoff, though only a few dozen feet of runway for landing. Bel-Air was the first dealer for the J-2, and I was to be trained to fly and instruct in it. Another Bel-Air instructor, who was also a police helicopter pilot, had lost control of a J-2 on landing at Long Beach a few weeks earlier and rolled it over on the runway (no injuries). It was assumed that his ingrained helicopter technique contributed to the accident. With no prior rotary-wing experience, I was expected to be immune from that problem.
A distinguished-looking gentleman came into the flight school, and asked for a demo ride in the Yankee. We took off in N6190L. He skillfully wheeled the airplane around the sky over the harbor, obviously enjoying the Yankee's slick handling. After we landed and the customer left, Ken McGuire asked if I knew who that was. I didn't. He said, "Col. Glenn Eagleston is a fighter ace with 18-1/2 kills in WW-2 and Korea, and now he's in your logbook under 'instruction given'!" In September 1971 I flew right-seat in 90L with Bill Cox of Plane & Pilot Magazine for his pilot report article on the Yankee. Years later N6190L was converted to 150 hp. It is now registered in Illinois.
Total hours: 416
My turn! My only aircraft accident (that's me on the left). I had soloed the J-2 a few days earlier, and Ken and I were flying to CPM for more practice when this happened on landing on runway 25L with a light crosswind. As only six J-2's had been built to that time, and there were already two similar accidents, the FAA grounded all J-2's for tests. The next week I heard a factory pilot "duplicated the malfunction" at Lancaster. The FAA soon ordered modification -- adding a Cessna-style shimmy dampener -- to the nosegear in an attempt to improve the topheavy J-2's ground stability. Months later I flew a modified J-2 at the factory in Lake Havasu City, AZ, but I couldn't tell much difference. Read the NTSB report of this accident.
My initial multi-engine training was in Turbo Aztec N6775Y, but later switched to the cheaper, doggier, and underpowered Apache in which I took the FAA checkride. N4374P still had its red factory paint, but faded and dull compared to when it was featured in Piper's 1961 advertising (right). N4374P is now registered in Florida. Click here for a more recent photo of this airplane.
Total hours: 770
Bel-Air's fleet was eclectic, if not elegant. It was the only seaplane school in all of Southern California, using this Lake for instruction. The school's ramp was dominated by the huge PBY Catalina owned by our seaplane instructor, Ernie Martin. The only (legal) place for water operations near Long Beach was in the harbor next to the Queen Mary, and even there the rough water tested the Lake's structure and scared me silly. I had one hour of seaplane dual with Ernie in the Lake, then found other things to do.
My first and only flight as crew of a Transport Category aircraft! Ron Whitelaw of Flight Safety was ferrying a DC-3 to Medford, and needed a First Officer to be legal. I was invited, so I quickly cleared my student schedule and flew the 4-hour trip with Ron. All it cost me was airline fare back to Long Beach. I never had a photo of N1213M until I recently found this photo on airliners.net, taken at Long Beach just six weeks before my trip. This airplane, s/n 4209, is a former military C-47 built in 1942. It sadly is reported to have been destroyed in 2003. Photo (c) John P. Stewart, used with permission.
"Dad, can I borrow the keys ...?" No better way to impress a young lady than a flying picnic trip in the family Cessna 150 to Solvang, a picturesque Danish community north of Santa Barbara. We landed at Santa Ynez Airport and drove the three miles to Solvang in one of the airport's unusual fleet of rental cars -- all 1958 Chevys, and each only five bucks a day. The young lady must have been duly impressed -- 35 years later she's still flying with me!
I quit instructing to start law school in 1972. The next year I took a part-time job as law clerk for prominent L.A. aviation attorney Ned Good, who owned this 401B. I flew several business trips with him, providing CFI services along the way. Total hours: 1066