My son Mike and I were planning a flight to Coalinga on Saturday for an airshow they were having. I washed the airplane Friday and checked it over. Saturday morning, Mike texted and said Piper, my granddaughter, wanted to go with him. I replied, “Sure.”
I went out to the airport and opened the hangar and checked the airplane again. They showed up. We got the airplane out and them loaded. I closed the hangar as Mike started the plane.
He taxied out and I went down to watch. He ran it up and took the runway. Added power. Tail up, plane up, gentle turn to South and I watched till they were out of sight, and I thought, “Thank you, Lord, for all you have given me.”
— Bill Hoffrage,
Madera