Pilot ... Continued from page 99 upgrades on the older planes. It’s quite onerous and time consuming. It’s more efficient to have digital.” When asked how long it took him to finish the plane, Creek smiled and said he started building it in 2005. “I’m always changing and reconfiguring it, so it’s never finished,” he said. Creek said he had “very good” support from family and help from friends, when he was building the plane. When he took me for a flight, we landed at the Boyd Ranch, owned by Andy Boyd and his family. We landed in the pasture and when we touched down, it was gentler than I expected. I have been jolted more landing on a paved runway. Boyd, like Creek, is a pilot. Boyd keeps his plane on the ranch. The two men said a lot of the private pilots in the area get to know each other and share tips. When we were ready to leave, I expected the take off from the pasture to be jarring, but it was almost at smooth as when we left the airport. Once again, it took Creek only a few seconds to get the Bearhawk into the air.
While flying over open country, Creek didn’t talk much on the radio. However, once we were closer to the airport he let any other planes in the area know we were there. “In Elko, we generally warn other air-
craft at 10 to 20 miles,” he said. “Like anything involving humans, it works most of the time. The pilots out here are very much about safety.” Taking a flight with Creek may have given me the same experience he had as
an 8-year-old. Who knows, maybe this flight has inspired me to someday earn my pilot’s license.
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