Flight Instruction ... to a 10 year old
To my Cousins Tommy &
I
have great memories of your Dad, Thomas E. Stancil, Jr. - my wonderful Uncle
'June'! He taught me to fly.
It
was your Dad's early attraction to fast airplanes that started the whole Stancil love
of aviation. “Tom Stancil” was an expert Navy fighter mechanic in
WWII, and then he learned to fly himself, inspiring a whole line of pilots.
His enthusiasm got our Granddad to fly at 40 years old, and then my own mother to get her
pilots license, his nephew (me), and his own son (you Tommy), and untold others. It was "Uncle
June" zooming over the lake cottages and 'jazzing the throttle"
to tell us to come get him at the
As
you know, most summers we Sweesy kids would spend a month or so at White Lake,
NC;
but it was your Dad who usually flew out to get Mom & us kids where ever it
was that our Air Force Dad was stationed.
One
trip to get us, he had a Bellanca, one of the fastest light planes of the day,
and in Missouri he had a bird strike on the wingtip on the way out to Lincoln,
Nebraska. Before heading back to NC, he was going to fly up to the
Bellanca factory at
After
we leveled off at 9,500 feet (I remember that), he was explaining all of the
instruments including the Altimeter, Airspeed Indicator, VVI, Whiskey Compass
(magnetic compass) , and
of course he also instructed me in IFR 'pilotage' - "I Follow
Roads". It was a beautiful day with just a few high puffy clouds
typical of summer days on the
Junior had me put my hands on the yoke, and had me follow him through on gentle turns and climbs and descents. The turns were easy even without the rudders which I couldn't reach, and the climbs and descents were reflected by the changing sound of the engine – ‘piece of cake’. Then, he took his hands off of his yoke.
Miraculously the plane knew where the factory was
and kept flying straight and level. Uncle
June was pleased, and he kept talking while I flew the plane – he loved to
talk too. I concentrated on the
instruments and also kept looking out the right side in front of the wing at the
northbound highway that we were following. Eventually
Junior stopped talking, but I kept my eyes on the instruments, the horizon, and the road –
straight and level. Then, at a river
with no bridge across it – probably the Missouri
- the road took a 90 degree
turn to the West. For the first time, I looked over at Junior to ask him what I
should do. Uncle June was asleep.
Now
let’s get this straight. I’m a
ten year old kid flying a 230HP, 150mph airplane, and the only adult
in the plane is ASLEEP!!
Well,
I reached over and shook his shoulder and asked him what to do.
He stirred groggily, and looked around.
“Follow that road”, he said pointing to where the same road crossed the river a
mile to the West, and went back to sleep. I
banked gently to the left, intercepted the highway and proceeded north again –
the only person awake in the plane.
Of
course, Uncle June woke up in time to do the descent and landing at the Bellanca
factory, and we got the wingtip fixed while the company President gave me a tour
of the factory with its wonderful wood and glue smell permeating the air.
I’ve loved the beautiful and fast Bellanca aircraft ever since, and
Bellancas have a great place in aviation history!
I
flew the return flight to Lincoln and we had to climb up above 15,000 feet (ok,
it was above 18,000 feet!) to
get over and around a line of ‘small’ thunderstorms, but that too is another
story - ‘blue lips’ and more
instruction from Uncle ‘June’ Stancil - a great pilot to a fledging pilot.
Ike
Ike
Sweesy
Pilot
Son of Rose Stancil (Sweesy)