Congratulations, Ed!! Nice acknowledgement of your many years of flying!! Incentive to keep going!!
I guess I didn't know such a thing existed. I mean I have heard about people getting interviewed for that award, but I thought it was a local thing where the person (small Missouri town) who was telling me was interviewing people for it. They have a very active pilots' group and thought it was through that group! I think the award is great but am just amazed and honored that the World's Best Flight Instructor took me on as a student in 1972 and convinced me that, if I really wanted to learn how to fly, I needed to buy an airplane..............
Wait...........do
WHAT??? Still have that same J-3 Cub.
Then, when I stumbled onto a fast, aerobatic, low-wing, tandem taildragger homebuilt, that looked a whole lot like a P-51, I decided that was
the best of the airplanes available at the time to build. It's not that I wouldn't have learned to
like the Glasair TD but......side-by-side seating???
I was born and raised tandem! When I took my first flight in October of 1997 functioning as a
Test Pilot, after 6.5 years of building, I knew that I had made the right decision!
And I still think so! It is the best of the breed!
Now: I have a lot of hours on both airplanes, somewhat more in the Cub but I've had her longer. My AME would always ask me if I was military with that number of hours. And the airplanes are
BOTH my favorite! Low and slow with the door open (oh.....the door
closes??
I did not know that......!
); fast and furious with the ability to do pretty decent aerobatics! Get to OSH in 5.5 hours from Denver. And flies like (I would imagine) a P-51 would fly!
How can you beat that combination?? The Cub did, indeed, teach me how to fly. SuzieQ has taught me how to fly well. They are such different airplanes they both have a lot to teach! To have been
honored to be flying all these years is, honestly, all the award I need. I agree with PilotJohnS, post #12.
Badges? We don't need no stinking badges! (Apologies to Blazing Saddles...!)