Busy, busy week

The Flagship returned to Ft. Worth on Monday, Oct. 17th. Tuesday was recurrent for newcomers. The class was attended by Carolyn Remol, Rick Smail and Steve Jacobson who was doing a refresher. Carolyn is employed by the FAA in the Chicago area as an operations inspector in general aviation. Rick is a friend of David Gorrell's. He is a retired Delta captain, currently flying for Sky West, often as co-pilot for his son.
On Wednesday they were joined by David Gorrell, Tony DeSantis, Dave Buffington, Zane Lemon and Larry Jamison. After a long day in class, a board meeting convened at 6PM.
Thursday was American Airlines Spirit of DFW day. So the Flagship went to DFW for the day and it was late in the evening when it was returned to AFW.
Friday was to be a day off, but what was to be a 30 minute re-positioning of the plane for the air show turned out to take four hours. The crew was there late, late into the evening and back the next morning early for the Alliance Air Show. The plane was then moved into position for Sky Ball which was at 6PM and then moved again late that evening back into air show position. Reminds you somewhat of that old song "Rubber Ball." (Bouncy, bouncy)
As the crew was in the car on the way to day two of the air show, they got the news that the show was canceled due to a rainy night that left the parking lots with the potential of becoming muddy bogs. So the plane was moved back into the hanger.
On Monday, there were two missions. The first was a fly over the memorial service for Gene Rushing. Gene was in the maintenance dept. at American Airlines and was an early and devoted worker on the Flagship from its earliest days until his health failed.
The second flight was a charity for Camp Summit. This was a flight donated to an auction to benefit a camp for disabled children. The winner of the auction hosted a number of his friends for a sunset flight over some of the passengers homes, ranches and businesses. There was a cocktail party plane side prior to the flight. Beautiful views of the Texas countryside in the twilight and of the city lights in the dusk.
On Tuesday, Jake and Gene began what turned out to be a longer day than anticipated as they launched for Covington, GA. A stop for fuel was made in Vicksburg, Ms where the locals found out there is another aspect of history other than the Civil War.
The next few days were spent in intense training, culminating with Jake having a check ride on Friday and receiving his DC-3 type rating. Way to go! Jake only regrets that his father, an American Captain who flew the Flagship in bygone days, did not live to see this.
Next Thursday the plane launches for MacDill AFB in Tampa with an air show in Stuart, FL the next weekend. This will be the end of the season. So be there or be square.