Homecoming

Purdue Aviation Students and their Mentor
Tom Taff and John Thatcher have flown together before,  but never was it quite as meaningful as on Sunday, June 23 when they landed the Flagshipat Purdue University airport in Lafayette, Indiana. Tom and John met here and are both graduates of Purdue University School of Aviation Technology. 

Breakfast in the Purdue DC-3 Hangar

 We were greeted by their former instructor, Professor Charlie Holleman and Tom' s classmate and current Purdue professor,  Dr. Tom Carney and his lovely wife, Karen.   Tom and Karen were wonderful hosts throughout our visit.

Monday was an early start for the crew. Tom Carney picked us up at 5:30 AM to meet an Honor Flight group which was departing Purdue Airport for their flight to Washington.  It was wonderful to see the WWII and Korean War veterans enjoying a great breakfast and a brass band in their honor. Breakfast was served in the hangar with the DC-3 as backdrop.  Later that day the airplane was open for touring, and thanks to good local publicity lines were long. Monday night the Carneys hosted the crew at a great downtown restaurant called Red  7.
Captain Steve and some prospective DC-3 pilots

After a late night thunderstorm, Tuesday dawned clear and we hosted two membership rides, the first being mostly Purdue faculty and staff . The rest of the day was spent showing the airplane to hundreds of enthusiastic Hoosiers, including large groups of Future Aviators! 

The two young men in the last photo are students of Able Flight, a program at Purdue which teaches the disabled to fly and get their light sports pilot license using a specialized aircraft. These gentlemen suffered their injuries while serving recently in the armed forces.