{"id":2925,"date":"2014-07-03T06:26:17","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T13:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=2925"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:56","slug":"107-worlds-smartest-aviator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/107-worlds-smartest-aviator\/","title":{"rendered":"#107 The World\u2019s Smartest Aviator"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that there are some pilots who are smarter than Steve Oliver.\u00a0 But I liked the above title and I should confess that, in my opinion, ol\u2019 Steve is certainly one of the smarter airmen I know.\u00a0 That\u2019s why, when Steve makes a suggestion, I\u2019m either going to follow it or at least give it some serious consideration.\u00a0 And I feel that way in spite of what happened in Arizona.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver<\/a>
Steve Oliver in his highly modified (and very cool) DeHavilland Chipmunk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was doing an airshow at Prescott, Arizona.\u00a0 It was 1988 or \u201989.\u00a0 The airshow producers had arranged for hangar space so that each performer\u2019s airplane could be in a hangar.\u00a0 For me, they\u2019d found room in a hangar which was normally used as a paint shop.\u00a0 We rolled the Cub into the hangar.\u00a0 Steve Oliver\u2019s Chipmunk was in an adjoining hangar and he had helped me push the Cub inside.\u00a0 Before heading to the local bar to visit with my airshow buddies, I \u201cdressed the prop\u201d the way I always did.\u00a0 I turned it so that it was horizontal, it\u2019s tips of equal height.\u00a0 Then I headed for the door.\u201cWhy do you do that,\u201d I heard Steve ask.<\/p>\n

I paused.\u00a0 \u201cOh, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Just to keep it out of the way, I guess,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if someone should come along and not see the tip, they might run right into it, maybe hurt themselves.\u00a0 Who do you think they\u2019re gonna sue if that happens?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SuzanneAsburyOliverc2005C\"<\/a>
More proof that Steve’s so smart… he married Suzanne, the World’s Greatest Skywriter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He had a point.\u00a0 And he was, in my opinion, the Worlds Smartest Aviator.\u00a0 So I turned the prop.\u00a0 I took ol\u2019 Steve\u2019s advice and turned the prop so that one tip was straight down and one straight up.\u00a0 Even Ray Charles wouldn\u2019t blindly run into it and hurt himself.\u00a0 Confident that our airplanes were safe, Steve and I headed to the bar.<\/p>\n

It was a fine get-together.\u00a0 I saw those good friends who I only got to spend time with at the occasional air show or at our big convention in December.\u00a0 Johnny White, the Air Force\u2019s West Coast F-16 Demo Pilot was there.\u00a0 Air Show Producer Tim (\u201cO\u2019Daleystein\u201d) Daley, Steve\u2019s wife, Suzanne (The World\u2019s Greatest Sky-writer\u201d) was also there.\u00a0 We hoisted drinks, talked about those who weren\u2019t there, told flying stories and were generally having a great time when the phone rang and the bartender asked, \u201cWho owns that Cub in the paint hangar?\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be me\u201d, I hollered over the sound of the boisterous crowd.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been damaged\u2026 you better get over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back at the hangar, we surveyed the damaged Cub and found out what had happened.\u00a0 It seemed that there was some painting to do, so they had rolled my plane out and left it against a curb, untied outside the hangar.\u00a0 While they were happily squirting paint, a dust devil arrived.\u00a0 It\u2019s drunken, random track took it right to my Cub.\u00a0 It picked up the unsecured airplane and dumped it against the curb.\u00a0 One wooden spar inside a wing was broken.\u00a0 The propeller, dressed with one tip straight down had that tip bent back as the plane was unceremoniously dumped in a nose-down attitude.<\/p>\n

For the first time in my air show comedy career, I borrowed another cub in which to perform my act that weekend.\u00a0 Then my airplane went on its trailer and we raced to our next show in Oklahoma City, where my friend, Tom Jones, had arranged for a local craftsman to fix the spar and re-fabric over his repair.\u00a0 I had to replace the bent propeller.<\/p>\n

The World\u2019s Smartest Aviator had been wrong.\u00a0 Had the prop been horizontal it would have survived.\u00a0 But that\u2019s the lesson:\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how smart we are or how well-thought-out our actions might be.\u00a0 Every once in a while we\u2019ll be wrong, no matter what.\u00a0 I still think that Steve Oliver is the World\u2019s Smartest Aviator.\u00a0 I still listen to his advice.\u00a0 \u2018Cause it\u2019s among the best I ever get.\u00a0 Right or wrong.<\/p>\n

Happy Swooping!<\/p>\n

Brian<\/em><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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