It’s A . . . Plane!

(Edited to add: When I first posted this, I put the wrong video in. I just added the correct one; it’s a bit longer and starts with Steve talking a little.)

Airplanes.

Steve has always loved them.

His dad was a fighter pilot in the Air Force and Steve’s great dream in life was to follow in his dad’s footsteps. Unfortunately, a failed physical put an end to that.

But it didn’t put an end to Steve’s love for airplanes. And since he couldn’t fly for the Air Force and since we’ve never been able to afford the $8,000 it would take to get his private lesson (another great dream of his), Steve has consoled himself with building and flying radio controlled airplanes.

He loves nothing more than to put on his old grubby clothes and putter around in his garage-based man cave.

Mostly he keeps his work outside but there was one particular job where he needed some extra space and a moderate temperature for some glue to dry. When I went into the kitchen to make dinner one night, this is what I found.

I thought it lent a certain air to my kitchen décor.

He has joined a local Flying Club which provides a field to fly in about 20 minutes from the house. In between those flying times, however, he runs his airplane around on the concrete pad outside our house, just to practice turns and get accustomed to new pieces of gear. (Note: his airplanes do actually come wings; he just practices without them.)

Last week he was outside running his plane up and down the driveway and Sarah happened to look out the window and see him. She said to me, “I think I’ll go outside for a minute and ooh and ahh over Dad’s airplane.”

I had to smile. She will make someone a great wife since she already understands the importance of oohing and ahhing over the accomplishments of the current man in her life.

 Summer came outside with her sister to help in the oohing and also the ahhing.

At one point, she even got up enough courage to leave the safety of Sarah’s arms and get down on eye level with the Scary Evil Big Bad Flying Machine. (Summer is not known for her great feats of courage so this was a big deal.) 

If it’s a quiet evening traffic wise, Steve will sometimes take the plane out of the driveway and run it up and down the street in front our house. I thought it would be fun to shoot a little video (just 50 seconds) of him putting the plane through its paces.

Note: The first snippet amuses me because when Steve saw me videoing, his first question was to ask whether or not this is going on the blog.  (My family know me well.)

He then says something in the video about “frightening women and children with his legs.” That alludes to his long-standing joke about his legs being a little on the thin, pale side.  The other two snippets are of the plane near the house and out on the street.

Enjoy your glimpse into Steve’s hobby! 

Steve and his plane