Plane Jane and the Goodbye

It is at the strangest time, usually late at night that I sometimes suddenly wake to the quiet of the house and I find myself thinking of days gone past..is this what we do as we get older or simply a case of reminiscing?  What does it cost to take pictures of a plane or tell its story and share it with everyone...the answer, it costs nothing, but could cost all a great deal if we don't share...amazing stories sheltered in our mind and not shared...well I needed to spill or share...

I have a good friend named Gene Breiner, whom I've been lucky to have known for over 25 years. We spend a lot of time with him at our hangar aka "barn" located in Pennsylvania, a grass strip ~ Bermudian Valley Airpark - 07N. Just recently we were reminiscing about a trip we had taken, a memory that my emotions ebbing and flowing through various stages, hey it's life baby, let me explain what I mean...it's worth the read, at least I think so.

I remember when he asked me to be a part of her last trip....I was rather pensive at first, that I would be delivering her to her last resting place and she wouldn't be heard rumbling, stumbling and coughing as only she could sound. She often would make her presence heard during the early summer evenings, when she flew the most.  For some reason now it bothered me that a few years had passed and she was still in the back room at the Udvar Museum...not out showcasing her beauty, her history and the amazing sight she was for the world to see .  There is a beautiful strength in the nature of a fabric airplane that perhaps can be said to mimic our lives and connects us to them in amazing ways. I have known many aircraft owners to have a symbiotic relationship with their planes, I know a few close friends that do.  It's almost hard to put to words how we "fly-babies" feel about our planes.

It was around this time three years ago when I accepted his ask of me,  I really should say for us, my husband feels the same way about Gene's flying lady. I discussed with him what would be entailed and we both agreed I had to say yes. I had a seat open and there was only one person who would be the perfect co-pilot... My husband and thankfully he said yes!

Her name is Plane Jane NC8689 a Reuben Fleet Biplane Model 2 and my friend Gene has been her caretaker since 1975 and he has lovingly cared for her the last 30 years.

The decision made and now I needed to sharpen my skills and get Girly Plane ready...back to 2011. This was going to be a great challenge for me to lead our party of four aircraft (nordo radio and negative transponder except for me) flying into Dulles airport to the Udvar Hazy Museum. I had to get busy, we only had two months...We practiced formation flying, I had many calls with ATC on the entry into this special airspace - {SFRA-Special Flight Rules Area}, and filling out forms, sharpening my communication skills, etc... Truth be told at times my focus of what we were actually doing slipped my mind as I was learning and all of my energies were soaking up this new experience that I was undertaking.  I had many glitches while preparing, radio issues, communicating with ATC of the special approval that was required, knowledge of {SFRA} airspace to be learned, formation flying, but, let's get back to focusing on the gift the museum was receiving.

The day arrived and while we wished for the day to be raining, it was almost perfect...we all departed from our home base and headed to Frederick MD where we would look to depart on the flight plan I filed as agreed with ATC for this special formation flight into Dulles.

When we arrived at Frederick Airport and everyone fueled up Gene lumbered into Plain Jane for her last flight....I mentioned to my hubby, how emotional that must be...it was tough to watch, yet I realized all of us pilots will walk a very similar path such as this one day.

As we had practiced, the four of us embarked down to Dulles in a diamond formation...Fleet on my left, Waco on my right and C-120 on the tail.  My hubster would check our parties location to Girly Plane as I was focused on my task to get us safely to the final designation. I can vividly recall being handed off to the Dulles tower - Citabria 7507F cleared to land "party of four" 19L....I mean we're talking Dulles, baby!!!

We touched down and we taxied to the museum where the officials had a podium set up for the donation of the Fleet - Plane Jane...a part of our airport family.  Gene had written a speech and spoke about her history and what it meant to his family realizing we were saying goodbye to her for the final time.  Many of us had teary filled eyes, we might have looked away from each other but the emotions were tangible in the air.

The sun was slowly setting and it was time to depart and make our way back to home base, now a party of three and I led us out to 19L and was advised to intersect the runway with 5000 feet remaining which at the time made sense as the remaining party were capable of departing on that distance.......what was unbeknownst at that moment was we would set for over 45 minutes my two wing-men and me...while I called the tower twice the 767 and RJ's inbound kept us grounded, waiting.....here it was June 18, 2011 and a very warm day at that, engines running etc..the story takes a turn here.

Finally, we got the go ahead Citabria 7507F cleared for take off maintain 2500 cleared as filed and since the other two had no radios they had to follow me out of Dulles back home...we three lined up and I throttled forward and within seconds I realized I had a problem. I normally climb out at 2600 rpms, and she was only indicating 1700 rpms and I wasn't sure we would clear the trees and buildings looming ahead...are you kidding me??

I had to vocalize to my co-pilot (my hubby) hun, I'm not liking this.......He said I'm not either.....within one second here is what happened - 

ME - "Dulles Tower - Citabria 7507F party of three, we need to land" 

Dulles-  are you declaring an emergency?

ME - NO - we need to land we are not climbing

Dulles - Citabria "cleared to land 19L, party of three" 

ME - Dulles confirm party intact please 

Dulles -yes, party of two following

Dulles - Citabria do you need services 

ME- NO

It was at this time, on a the downwind leg that I told my I hubby, hun "I got this - don't worry" and he simply said okay....I slipped Girly Plane well before base and we three landed with Fire Trucks racing towards us...

We taxed as a group to the Signature FBO and proceeded to get out of our planes and I was apologizing to the guys..and the bottom line was we were okay and acting as PIC I did what I felt had to be done...and my buds all agreed.

 A few hours later we were able to get my two wing-men back in the air while my hubby and me stayed.  I knew we just needed to clean the lead out of my spark plugs, I needed two items a 1/2 inch driver and 7/8 socket and we could fix this.  We called everyone, no one had tools, and finally a mechanic in another shop came in for coffee and I asked him if he could help us, and the stars lined up and he offered to help us with the tools we needed and my hubby and me cleaned the lead loaded spark plugs...good to go and the sun was sinking fast!

Finally, it was close to dusk and we had to go...I re-filed party of one and they said are you the Citabria that made 2 767's go around..niceee....hey shit happens....I lined up on the runway and they kicked us out of Dulles.  

We finally crested our home base at sunset and our two Fischer buds had our hangar doors open with two cold brews on hand.

We slid Girly Plane back in her spot in front of our Stearman and slumped in our chairs and we talked about the emotional day, which is forever etched in our minds and I simply stated we just said goodbye to a wonderful piece of history, Gene's plane"Plane Jane", and saying goodbye is hard, period.

He asked me, I said yes, and for some reason I remember that summer event now and that day is forever engrained in my mind and I simply had to tell my story today...perhaps because I recall how the summer of 2011 was so much fun with my buds and well today things are different...life ever changing.

Between what was and what can be, lies what is.  I always try to focus on seizing the moments of life with conviction knowing that my future is greater than my past and I move forward.

I do know that when I'm on the ground sometimes things just don't feel the same, is that wrong? I don't believe so, I simply trust without wavering, that the sky is where I am meant to be.

"Flight is the essence of spirit. It nurtures the soul.  It is awesome often ethereal, glorious. Emotionally wondrous and all pervading, intangible".  Louise Thaden