I just watched Chuck Yeager take off in jet. How cool is that? No matter how many times I see him fly, it is always cool. Sometimes I get conflicted – fly with him or watch him fly.
He spooled up and away he went gaining speed down the runway…then lift off and turn west.
Wow. Within what seemed like seconds, he was a speck and then gone. It’s okay – he’s coming back in the next couple hours.
Yesterday we spoke at a school in Reno. The 10th -12th graders were there as well as some flight students of all ages, teachers, parents, community.
They loved hearing him talk. So do I.
After playing the inspiring documentary and 20 minutes, General Yeager opened it up to questions. That’s my cue.
I come on stage with him (an d in this case in front of the room). My job is to repeat the question – or find the question within the statements :>) and repeat that for General Yeager.
I also answer some and you’ll see why in a minute.
Me: Any questions?
The usual silence – no one wants to be first. Too bad because by the end, they will have a question and we won’t have time for all of them.
To inspire the crowd I said: You get extra credit if you ask an intelligent question.
A few adult hands rose. They knew the drill.
Some of the usual questions: Your favorite airplane. Which one is the best to fight a war today…
Gen Yeager: F-15 E
One from the back: Did any literature and poetry inspire you?
I said: You must be the literature teacher?
Laughter. Yes, he was. I smiled knowing the teacher shouldn’t ask that sort of question in that sort of setting unless s/he knew the answer would be helpful.
And I knew this pending answer wouldn’t be helpful. I repeated the question: Did any literature and poetry inspire you?
General Yeager: Nah.
Laughter.
Gen Y: I didn’t know until the third grade that “A” didn’t mean awful and “F” didn’t mean “fine”.
The audience relaxed, realized it wasn’t so bad to ask a question and lots of hands went up.
One was: Did you want to be an astronaut?
Gen Y: No, I trained all of them.
And he went on to explain about the ARPS and why NASA took over the space program (and probably slowed down the progress).
Then he ended that answer with: And I didn’t want to wipe the monkey crap off the seat before I sat down.
I added that: Gen Yeager actually was an astronaut, having been above 118,000 feet several times. And that Russia and the US decided for security purposes that beyond 50 miles was space so no one could fly over your country closer than that without permission. So it was an arbitrary number as to the definition of space.
Gen Yeager did say: Sure, I would have liked to sit in a capsule and look at the earth from 160 miles away but I’ve flown some great airplanes and had a great military career being in the right place at the right time.
Before the next question, I said: Actually unless it was the shuttle landing, where you can actually fly the plane, I know Gen Yeager, he would have been bored sitting in a capsule.
A few more questions, then: What words of wisdom would you give these kids sitting here today?
Again, I smiled, knowing the answer would not be what they wanted as I repeated it for the audience and General Yeager.
Gen Yeager: None. No one ever gave me advice about my career. Those who do it on their own are the best.
I think the adults were hoping for some wisdom for themselves.
I added: Gen Yeager always says, figure out something you like to do, and make your lifestyle fit your income. Not the other way around.
Another question: Describe the differences between test work in the early days and today.
Gen Yeager: There were four people re the X-1 once I was flying it: Jack Ridley, outstanding engineer, Dick Frost, Jack Russell, my crew chief, and me. Today, there’s a big committee.
I added: And congressman who say you have to put on a gun package you don’t need because it’s made in my back yard and if you don’t, I won’t vote to finance the military.
Another question or two…and then I went back to the words of wisdom.
I said: General Yeager is constantly thinking how can I bust my butt, how can I prevent that? He had to eject fuel from the X-1 or he was landing a bomb. So he- to-he only had the electrical system…
Gen Yeager grabbed the mike – I was messing it up (I do that willingly so that he does take the mike and tell the story instead of me).
Gen Yeager: IF my electrical systems went out, I couldn’t eject the fuel. The gear was not stressed for landing with a full load of fuel. So I added a JATO ((Jet Assisted Take Off) bottle (and he explained it – I still can’t but it was a redundancy system to eject the fuel.
The next flight, he needed it – electrical system went out as soon as the X-1 was dropped from the B-29. To test if his back-up was working, he stalled the airplane at 240 indicated. Then a few thousand feet lower, he stalled again, the stall speed was slower. It was working – he was ejecting fuel.
There were more questions-several from students.
I had some more words of wisdom from General Yeager: During World War II, when others got leave, they went on a drunken binge in London. Gen Yeager often stayed behind to practice. He wanted to stay on top of his game to stay alive. Twenty-one of the 30 that went over with Gen Yeager got killed. Gen Yeager practiced. Gen Yeager says the most experienced pilot is the best. You aren’t born a great pilot. So practice, practice, practice.
I didn’t tell the part that the main reason was that he was the head of maintenance so he had to fly all the airplanes to figure out the problems and to make sure they were fixed. He wasn’t against a little leave time to go party.
More questions.
Then just before closing, I said: Gen Yeager does read a lot today – mostly biographies and autobiographies. And he’s a poet himself.
After Gen Yeager finished answering questions, we thanked the group for inviting us. They gave another standing ovation and we shook some hands and left the gym turned-auditorium.
The literature professor sought me out and thanked me for the save. 
He then commented on one of my favorite parts of the documentary when Gen Yeager says with a broad smile: “I smoke out to MACH 2 – I can see from Baja to the Sierras to the Pacific and I own it all.”
I said, See he’s a poet himself.
The literature teacher appreciated that and said, inspired again, Yes, he could teach that.
I also told him Gen Yeager is a great writer as well. I mentioned the books and then also his letters and essays.
The literature teacher added that to his thought processes for teaching the kids. Super to see.
We went off to lunch with our friends who had arranged the talk. But not before one of the F-86 pilots in Gen Yeager’s Wing, came up to say hello. We invited him and his friend to join us for lunch.
Delighted.
After lunch, we got a phone call. The jet was coming to Reno and could pick us up along with some others.
Oh good. Our other options were flying in a 182 45 minutes or driving 2.5 hours or more. The weather wasn’t great – pretty bumpy – so we were glad for the jet.
I got co-pilot seat. Gen Yeager said Now no flying Southwest’s wing this time.
The reference was to a month ago this same pilot and I, with Gen Y in the back, were landing on a parallel runway with Southwest landing on the other. Because of wind conditions it looked like we were heading straight for Southwest to fly wing. (We were not even close but it makes a good story).
Even so, from Reno the jet ride was a little turbulent and on final, we were crabbing at a 45 degree, sometimes 60 degree angle. The pilot talked me through his approach and landing. I was co-pilot.
We were left of the runway and struggling to stay inline. I’ve never seen such a crab especially in a jet. Wow.
We’ll keep the aileron down, (as we floated, no not in a jet, flew! down the runway…)
touch down on the right wheel first, (hefty crosswind from the right or West)
then left,
nose,
keep airleron in. Right?
(Me thinking: with the approach and touchdown a bit almost too exciting and us touching down at about halfway: “Whatever you say, Kimosabe”) I don’t think I responded – sure didn’t want to distract the pilot! And frankly didn’t realize he had a question mark until…
And there we were careening down the runway on our “roll out”….reverse thrusters….and brakes….and…do we have enough time to stop…do we have enough power and runway to take off again if we can’t stop…oh yeah it’s just desert, the plane may get hurt but we’ll be okay….
We stopped… before the end of the tarmac.
I breathed again and said, “What would you have done if the crosswind was stronger?”
The pilot burst out laughing. Holding your breath? I would have tried Yerington or Carson City.
That was something.
In fact, that was pretty darn cool!. Learned a LOT. There are about 2 pilots I would have felt comfortable with that landing. One was flying the plane and one was a passenger who had let me have the right seat so I could get more experience and learn. Or maybe so he didn’t have to see that landing up front and personal. Just kidding.
The passengers in the back – Gen Yeager included were ….quiet.
However the next day, Gen Y was flying with this pilot to pick up another friend in this same airplane. When we got to the plane, Gen Yeager crawled under the wing to inspect the wheel, tire, wheel well, under the wing.
I watched. After he crawled back out, I said: Okay. So I can learn. What are we looking for?
Well, it was quite a landing, just checking everything out.
He proceeded to check the other tire, wheel, wheel well.
No leaks, tires not too worn, no cracks…not sure what else, but he was satisfied it was not only flyable, but was land-able.
So since the plane could be used the next day, our friend’s gusty, strong crosswind landing was not just good, but….excellent.
C. GCYI