Amazing Feat

Bryan Wood · #1 06-30-2006, 02:18 PM

I just got back from the airport where I went to wash the RV for the weekend. There is just something about flying a dirty "Flag" that seems wrong, especially on the 4th of July weekend. At the wash rack there is a rock near the water spicket about 3 feet tall and equally wide. On this rock I placed my towels and a bottle of drinking water and proceeded to wash my airplane. After finishing this chore I took time to read a bronze plaque that is inlaid into the top of this rock and I thought I would share it with everybody. My home field is Reid Hillview in San Jose and this plaque was in honor of Ameilia Reid who was the daughter in law of the airports founder and the person who donated the land to the county originally.

Ameilia was a local icon and there are very few pilots in our area who didn't know her, or of her. She owned and ran her own flight school and taught up until the time of her death a few years ago. She flew airshows in a Cessna 150 aerobat and did a routine that she called the butterfly which was truly amazing to watch. She performed an extremely low and slow routine that was very precise and graceful to behold. She also flew a Pitts Special, but I never personally saw her perform in this plane. It was her mastery of slow flight and inverted manuevers just over the runway at what looked like speeds to slow to stay airborne that were so intriguing.

One day I witnessed her taking off with a student at the controls of a Luscumbe when the engine sucked a valve and gave up near the fence at the departure end of he field. They were not very high and she was able to make a turn back to the field and rolled out and stopped near the runup area. A pickup came out and hooked up to the back of the plane and towed it to the hanger as they got into another plane and took off again.

We had a family friend that bellied a Comanche 250 that she owned into the Pinnacles which is a rocky, un-level horrable place to have a forced landing. To the amazement of everybody she flew that airplane out of there.

Anyway, getting back to the plaque. Ameilia taught over 4000 people to fly, through completion and getting their license. (She was Sean Tuckers instructer, including aerobatics) Flying only GA aircraft she had over 55,000 flight hours

and was current and still flying and teaching at the time of her death. Simply amazing to me. When she was still alive I didn't realize the magnitude of her aviation career. I wonder how many pilots out there had this kind of experience without ever flying in the military or for the airlines.

Have a happy 4th everybody,

RV7Factory · #2 07-03-2006, 12:22 PM

Great post Bryan!

While I never had the good fortune of flying with her, I did obtain my tailwheel endorsement from her flight school while she ran it.

For those unfamiliar with her, she was a VERY unique person, and ran a VERY unique operation. Friends who flew with her tell affectionate stories of her dozing off for a few moments in the back seat of a champ only to have her wake moments later to bark out some order or correct their behavior.

Her diminutive size (she was tiny) was no indication of her personality; she was full of life and not to be crossed. I recall one Watsonville Airshow performance of hers, upon exiting the aircraft at the end of her routine you see and hear the amazement of the crowd as this ?little old lady? hopped out of a 150, not even having to duck as she walked under the wing. I remember thinking, little old lady my a@@, that?s Amelia Reid.

While my interactions with her were short, she is certainly someone I will never forget. I am honored to have met her and to have obtained my T/W edorsement from her school. I recall one day out on the ramp with her, she looked up at me and asked how tall I was. When I responded ?6-foot-3?, she fired back, ?I guess I will need my booster seat (pillow) if I am going to fly with you.?

Happy 4th!

jcoloccia · #3 07-03-2006, 12:35 PM

I did my ppl and aerobatic training there and I can tell you they've continued the tradition. Amelia Reid Aviation is about the only thing I miss about San Jose and I miss it sorely.

Robin (her son) has recently sold Amelia's to 'Zdrav, one of the instructors and an accomplished pilot himself. This is fortunate as Robin was ready to shut it down and sell off all his planes to go pursue a life that gave him more time with his new family (I was in line to buy the 7KCAB). That would have been a shame.

And yes, the Champ is still going strong.