Residents take to the skies in ‘Wannabe Pilot' program

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By Sean J. Miller | Sunday, October 15, 2006 12:52 AM CDT | () comments

Nick Loomis/QUAD CITY TIMES Helicopter pilot Tim Baldwin of Moline flies over the Mississippi River from Davenport to Rock Island on his way back to the Quad-City International Airport on Saturday afternoon. Baldwin gave rides to participants in Saturday’s Wannabe a Pilot event sponsored by the Quad City Aviators Association.

Tony Gimble starts the engine, and the body of the 1979 Beechcraft Sundowner starts to shake.

He checks his instrument panel then accelerates to 80 mph. The plane lifts off the runway at the Quad-City Airport and climbs quickly over the Illinois countryside. Gimble brings the plane to a cruising altitude of 3,000 feet and then asks 13-year-old Tom Porter if he’d like to take the controls.

“Pick something out in the distance and fly towards it,” said Gimble, 47, of Moline.

“OK,” Porter replies as he takes hold of the throttle.

The plane jerks to the right, and Gimble uses his throttle to straighten it out again.

“Real easy pressure,” he cautioned Porter. “It’ll change the altitude real quickly.”

Flying is a lot like driving, Gimble said, “except you have another axis to worry about and you can’t just pull over when you get frustrated.”

Porter was one of about 80 people who participated in the ninth annual Wannabe a Pilot flight lesson Saturday, put on by the Quad City Aviators Association.

“We encourage kids to get involved in aviation,” said Pat Rynott, president of the association. “This is a chance to see what it’s like — they actually have their hands on the controls.”

The new pilots went through a training course Wednesday and then got to fly with an experienced pilot Saturday.

“That’s how I got started nine years ago,” Rynott said. “It’s a great hobby.”

People often overestimate the risk involved in personal aviation, he said.

“All you hear about is the accidents,” he said. “You don’t hear about the thousands of (successful) flights each week.”

Back in the air, Gimble warned Porter the ride is about to get a little rougher.

“The ground is going to warm at different rates, and we’re going to get the bumps,” he said.

Minutes later, the plane seems to rise and fall on a wave of air, giving the brief sensation of a roller coaster at the start of a steep drop.

“That was a bump,” Gimble said.

Porter takes his hands off the controls and lets Gimble resume piloting. He turns to snap pictures of the autumn countryside unfolding for miles in every direction.

“That was great,” said Porter, a seventh-grader from Muscatine.

Porter said NASA sparked his interest in flying.

“I liked the space program a lot, but flying is more available,” he said.

Gimble circles the plane around the Orion, Ill., radio tower and heads back toward the airport.

A cross-wind landing is one of the hardest parts of flying, said Gimble, who has flown since 1999. “It’s hard just trying to stay lined up with the runway.”

He eases the plane into a descent.

“This is going to be a little bit of a cross-wind landing,” he warned.

The plane lists left and right before it touches down on the runway.

On the ground, Porter said he wants to get his pilot’s license.

“I want to be a helicopter pilot,” he said. “I want to fly my date to the prom in a helicopter.”

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

To learn more

For more information on the Quad City Aviators Association, go to this Web site: www.qcaa.org.