Loren
"Dread Baron" Schreiber
This is my first lesson, February 4, 1968,
two days after my 16th birthday, at Afenya, Ghana. I could have soloed at
Afenya if my parents had trusted me to stay there for two weeks
unsupervised.<sigh> Oh well.
This is me nearly thirty years later at
Warner Springs, CA. We tried to make it look like the one above. Kathryn gave
me the flight for Christmas. I didn't do too badly either.
This is the sailplane I flew in Ghana. It is
an English model K7, I believe. We had only winch tows to about 1500'. The ride
upstairs was pretty exciting: stick full back until you feel like a kite.
I did eventually solo. This is a composite of
my solo certificate and my shirt-tail, which is traditionally cut off after the
first solo. That was way back in March of 1987.
This is the traditional "lean-on-your-plane-and-look-like-a-pilot" shot. Of course, this works better if your plane is a P51 or a Spitfire.
This is the plane I finally soloed in: Cessna
152, N9534Q. It was the pride of the Golden State Flying Club fleet. At the
time it rented for $34/hour. It's up around $50+ now.
Of all the planes I've flown, this is my
favorite: a 1936 J4A Piper Cub. It is unusual among the Cubs in that the
seating is side-by-side instead of tandem. It has no electrical system, so it
must be hand-propped to start. I use a hand-held radio to communicate with the
tower. My most memorable flight was doing touch and gos with the doors
off--barefoot. I used to cruise down Interstate 5 at about 1000' and plant my
shadow over a car below and hold it there. Sometimes it was hard to keep up.
The plane cruises at about 70mph. The owner moved to Los Angeles, so I no
longer get to fly it. :(
This is a pilot's eye view of the left wing
of a 7KCAB Citabria during the pull up into a hammerhead. We're still a bit
positive (not quite vertical) at this point. Notice that the horizon is the
dark, vertical stripe on the left of the picture. This is what I do to relax.
My first jump. Woo hoo! The photo is a
composite of several shots taken by my brother as I was desending. What a
Seventies hairstyle!