Where did my airplane come from?

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

The boss at work has asked me to do a "brown bag" lunch discussion today about my airplane project. This is a group of hardened newspeople and airplane building generally isn't the subject of "brown bags." So I'm not exactly sure why he wants me to do this and I'm pretty sure not many people will attend. But I want to do the topic justice so I've been up most of the night working on the presentation.

Halfway through the night, it occurred to me that there really is a newsroom application for the topic, although I didn't discover it until the sun was well up this morning.

It was this article I wrote five years ago and forgot about, Where Does My Airplane Come From, Daddy , which chronicled my journey of discovery in the airplane project in which it went from one role -- an assembly/engineering project -- to an entirely different (and to my way of thinking, more important) role.

The project was about people -- people I met while doing it, people who helped, people who inspired, people who gave a ****. The chances are: you fit into one of those categories.

In that picture I posted the other day of the first flight with my wife and I watching our plane, that's what I was thinking about (after thinking of those crappy rivets I bucked in the HS 11 years ago). People.

What's the newsroom message here? In public radio, we like to talk about how we cover "issues." In the course of the building project, I stopped covering "issues," and started covering people instead; people who were somehow living those "issues." Everyone has a story and those individual stories -- and those journeys -- are a way more interesting way to have a discussion about the big picture. The little picture is where the humanity is located.

Kids often look at our planes and ask "what makes them fly," and we respond with a discussion physics. The short answer is "people."

[rgmwa]

Originally Posted by LettersFromFlyoverCountry

So I'm not exactly sure why he wants me to do this and I'm pretty sure not many people will attend.

You may be surprised. If my workplace is anything to go by, the people who know about my project are very interested in what I'm doing. As builders and pilots I think we sometimes forget how relatively rare it is for someone to build an aircraft. To most people, the idea borders on unbelievable.

On the other hand, becoming a pilot and builder has allowed me to meet many interesting, generous and talented people I would never have otherwise met. That has been one of the most unexpected and rewarding parts of this journey.

[Alan Carroll]

Originally Posted by LettersFromFlyoverCountry

So I'm not exactly sure why he wants me to do this...

Perhaps its because building and flying your own airplane is highly unusual, at least in public perception? (think "man bites dog"). I like your people angle as a way to explain how something like this is even possible.

Of course it could also be that he thinks you're going to crash, and wants to get a head start on that story?

[Bob Axsom]

It seems I often get into these developing stories late or after the fact. People and concern for them seems to be you comfort zone so I suspect that is the way your presentation went. The hardened newspeople - I don't know their perspective but I imagine they want to know the cold hard facts about you and your experience building your airplane - they are in the business of story telling. It seems to me that would be a hard thing to communicate beyond the superficial fluff story. A good PowerPoint set of slides could help avoid dumbing it down too much and cutting them off from the "cold hard facts" of your personal story and special experience. How did it go?

Bob Axsom

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

It went well. it competed with another meeting (planning for the Supreme Court decision on health care) so people trickled in over the course of the hour.

Aside from the struggles of my son (who worked for the same company I do), people were mostly interested in two things (a) I delivered newspapers every morning for 10 years to pay for the project and (b) the incredible diversity of backgrounds of people who build their own airplanes.

They all started clapping when the video started and Tom Berge lifted the plane off the runway, so that was a good sign.

So at least we've got 20+ newspeople who think better of general aviation. Maybe I should take this presentation on the road and go from newsroom to newsroom.

[ColoRv]

I think it is a good point to make that people in general have a hard time wrapping their heads around building an airplane.

My neighbor, who has never been all that chatty, walked into my back yard a while back to talk about our water feature. He glanced into the walk out basement and saw a fuselage with the empennage on it and just stood there staring. I smiled and waited for his head to wrap around what he was looking at. When he finally looked back at me I offered him a tour of the basement aircraft factory. He has been much more chatty and friendly ever since.

Sometimes we forget just how incredible we seem to the rest of the world just because we can run a rivet gun.

[Bob Axsom]

Originally Posted by LettersFromFlyoverCountry

...(a) I delivered newspapers every morning for 10 years to pay for the project ...

That is real hard core sacrifice and dedication - I am moved by that revelation.

Bob Axsom

[rjtjrt]

Originally Posted by LettersFromFlyoverCountry

(a) I delivered newspapers every morning for 10 years to pay for the project....

One word comes to mind - respect

John

[tkatc]

Originally Posted by Bob Axsom

That is real hard core sacrifice and dedication - I am moved by that revelation.

Bob Axsom

C'mon Bob! How hard can it be? He lives in balmy Minnesota!

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

Up until Feb '08, it was hangared in the winter in an unheated T-hangar and I actually worked on the thing in -10 weather.

It seems kind of fun now, but I'm pretty sure this is just the brain blocking out trauma.