{"id":1628,"date":"2013-03-20T19:31:35","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T02:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=1628"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:58","slug":"early-morning-meeting-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/early-morning-meeting-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#58 Early Morning Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Patty<\/a>
Patty in her Extra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In \u201cThe People in our Lives\u201d, I mentioned a meeting between Jim Lovell and Hooper Lansburgh.\u00a0 The event has always stuck in my mind, so I thought I\u2019d relate it in its entirety.<\/p>\n

\"Patty\"<\/a>
Patty Wagstaff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think it was 1998.\u00a0 I\u2019d pretty much retired from Airshow Comedy flying and was living in Florida and working at Black Shadow Aviation in Fernandina Beach.\u00a0 I\u2019d been asked to produce a private airshow for the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Amelia Island.\u00a0 We used Black Shadow\u2019s ramp, which faced the runway. \u00a0The big hangar was decorated for the following banquet.\u00a0 It was a tiny air show lineup and Patty Wagstaff was the primary performer.\u00a0 At the post-show banquet, Patty introduced me to the guest of honor, Captain Jim Lovell, who had commanded the ill-fated Apollo 13 and who was later played by Tom Hanks in the movie of the same name.\u00a0 The audience was delighted to learn that, in addition to Capt. Lovell, there was a surprise guest.\u00a0 Gene Krantz, the legendary Flight Director from Mission Control, was also present.<\/p>\n

As the three of us chatted, Patty told Captain Lovell that it was too bad that my son, Hooper, wasn\u2019t there for him to meet.\u00a0 She told him that Hooper, who was only six years old at the time, was already a talented flyer.\u00a0 He was also launching model rockets and planning to become an astronaut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to meet Hooper,\u201d Lovell said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be leaving really early tomorrow, but if Hooper is in the lobby of the Ritz, I\u2019d be delighted to meet him\u201d.<\/p>\n

I told Captain Lovell that he could probably expect to see Hooper waiting for him in the lobby the next morning.<\/p>\n

\"Appolo<\/a>
Liftoff of Apollo 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hooper, who was not a morning person, leapt out of bed the next morning at four.\u00a0 He put on his best pair of jeans and a corduroy sport coat and we blasted over to Fernandina Beach.\u00a0 Hooper was clutching a book on rockets that he\u2019d checked out from the school library.\u00a0 At five o\u2019clock in the morning, Jim Lovell came into the lobby of the Ritz Carlton to meet Hooper Lansburgh.\u00a0 I introduced them and then made myself scarce while the two sat in a corner and chatted.\u00a0 They pored through Hooper\u2019s book and I remember Lovell pointing to a picture of one of the Russian rockets and commenting, \u201cThose blew up all the time\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Hooper was having a ball yakking with his hero.\u00a0 Then the astronaut shook Hooper\u2019s hand and told the kid that it had been fun chatting. He wished him luck in his future.\u00a0 He took Hooper\u2019s book and autographed it.\u00a0 The inscription said, \u201cTo Hooper.\u00a0 Join us in space.\u00a0 Jim Lovell\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hooper and I headed for home where I would fix him breakfast and we\u2019d recount the morning\u2019s wonderful meeting.\u00a0 Suddenly, Hooper gasped.\u00a0 I turned to him quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong,\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

Hooper held up the book.\u00a0 \u201cThis is a library<\/b> book!\u201d<\/p>\n

I smiled at my boy.\u00a0 \u201cNot any more, Hoop.\u201d I assured him.<\/p>\n

\"Roll<\/a>
Hooper gives a rocket launching demo on the beach at Amelia Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hooper continued his interest in space and rockets.\u00a0 He even gave an impromptu rocket launching clinic to his school chums on the beach of Amelia Island.<\/p>\n

A couple of years after his meeting with Lovell, Hooper went to a book signing in Jacksonville, Florida.\u00a0 Gene Kranz had written \u201cFailure is Not an Option\u201d and Hooper was there to meet the colorful Kranz and to get a copy of his book autographed.\u00a0 Kranz chatted briefly with perhaps the youngest reader present and learned of Hooper\u2019s interest in rocketry.\u00a0 They shook hands and Hooper turned to leave. \u00a0Kranz called him back.\"Kranz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHere,\u201d the Flight Director said, pulling a business card out of his pocket.\u00a0 \u201cGive me a call sometime when you\u2019re launching one of your rockets and I\u2019ll do the countdown for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wonder sometimes if people like Gene Kranz and Jim Lovell know how much a little bit of special attention means to the kids they meet (and their parents).\u00a0 I hope they do.<\/p>\n

And now you do, too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Happy Swooping,<\/p>\n

Brian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In \u201cThe People in our Lives\u201d, I mentioned a meeting between Jim Lovell and Hooper Lansburgh.\u00a0 The event has always stuck in my mind, so I thought I\u2019d relate it in its entirety. I think it was 1998.\u00a0 I\u2019d pretty much retired from Airshow Comedy flying and was living in Florida and working at Black […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}