Volume 45 - No. 08
February 19, 2015
by lyle e davis
So off we went into the wild blue yonder . . .
With my blue eyes, a basic blue biplane, blue skies, blue ocean and 46 other shades of blue somewhere or other.
Taking off from Palomar Airport in an open cockpit biplane that is older than I am (it was built in 1929, which makes it 86 years old. I'm not quite that ancient; I came along sometime after that.) Technically, it's a Travel Air 4000 . . . but we all just call her “Olive.” She flies at a whopping 80 mph and with her auxiliary tanks filled she can probably fly for 7.5 hours, which would probably get us from here to Santa Barbara if one's bladder would hold out that long. But mostly she just flies a 25 mile radius around Palomar Airport, taking happy people for happy, fun flights.
We were suitably attired in helmet and goggles and had headsets and a push to talk button so we could communicate with each other and with the pilot, the legendary Captain Biggles . . aircraft historian, pilot of many hours, veteran of showbiz . . . and proud hubby of his trophy wife, Janene (one of the five most beautiful women in the entire world [see photo below] (and, yes, Evelyn is included amongst those five.)
Janene Shepherd
Olive is a good looking old girl a deep blue . . . yellow wings, one wing on top, one below . . . that’s why they call it a biplane. There are two cockpits . . . the forward one, immediately below the top wing, seats two, side by side - or, if you wish to fly alone, you will be allowed to take the controls and see what it’s like to fly one of these old birds. The Paper - 760.747.7119
website:www.thecommunitypaper.com
email: thepaper@cox.net
Top left framed photo: Evelyn and lyle prior to their flight. Middle left photo: Evelyn Madison awaiting her Valentine’s Day Flight... lyle e. davis, editor/publisher of The Paper, seated beside her. Top right photo: “Olive” - the Travel Air 4000, with blue fuselage, and yellow wings. Bottom left photo: The Carlsbad Flower Fields. Bottom right photo: The pièce de résistance, the sunset flight offered by Fun Flights, LLC. I’m a private pilot but had not flown for about 20 years, when I first flew with Fun Flights out of their neat location at Palomar Airport. This was about a year ago. Once airborne I took over the controls and while I still remembered how to fly, I was tentative in my turns. I would probably have to fly two or three more times before I had my old flying skills back. Flying is
something you ought to do regularly so as not to get rusty (and tentative).
But today there would be no piloting of the aircraft by me. Captain Biggles was handling all the hard work. We just had to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. The engine is a big black beast,
50 Shades of Blue Continued on Page 2
a Continental rotary engine that is loud. It churns out 220 horsepower and goes 80 mph. You have a pilot’s helmet with a headset, a microphone, and the aforementioned push to talk button; however, once airborne I had great difficulty hearing via the push to talk microphone and headset. I could hear a bit . . . but not a lot.