Since my son was flying for the second time in 2 days and because he was still on vacation, I wondered out loud if his friend who just joined the Marines might like to come along. As I mentioned before, Van Nuys was going to be very busy and I thought he might like to watch the planes take off and land. I figured lots of action going on and I know I like to watch such stuff. He signed up for working with aircraft as his career choice, so I thought this might be something he would like to share with my son. Up until this point, I have never brought anyone along and I was not sure what the teacher would think of this. So we get ready to go and my brother in law is at the house helping put up the holiday lights and he asks if he too can come along. In for a penny, in for a pound I think to myself and I say OK. We head out and as we are driving over, there are indeed LOTS of planes in the sky. So I KNOW they are going up today. We get there and the teacher gets introduced to the two guests. He immediately asks if the boy would like to take a ride with them. Oh heck, I think to myself, I am so not letting this boy go up in a plane without his mother's permission. So I have him call his Mom and let her know and at least she is now informed. The teacher decides they will go out to the practice field, instead of doing touch and goes, which relieves me, because it is VERY busy out there. Lots of Lear Jets stacked up on the runway, lots of stuff landing. So my son and the boy do the preflight check and we talk while I take pictures of them. The teacher gets an extra headset for the boy and the three of them get into the plane and leave, while the two of us left, watch them go. The taxi way has about 3 aircraft waiting in cue to take off and my son told me later that his teacher asked if they could cut the line by taking off a little further down the runway. Their plane is so small that they don't need much runway. The front plane was having some problem or another and so the tower goes, sure, why not. So they are up in the air and out of the airport fast.
My brother in law and I watch the action at the airport and the big guys are all passing us by, including an unusual plane with the propellers in the rear of the aircraft, instead of the front. I was so interested, that I took a couple of pictures of it. After about half an hour, we go sit back down inside the hanger and I turn on the radio to listen for their call in to Van Nuys. At one point I hear what I thought was their call sign, but then I got confused because I thought the plane said they were in the pass. I immediately think the Newhall Pass and so then I think that must not be them, because this plane isn't coming from where I knew they went. So we listen some more and there is more trouble up at the top of the runway and lots of problems, due to that. Lots and lots of communication trying to get the planes to pass by the one with the problem and I don't hear anything else that sounds like them, amidst it all. Then I hear their engine and they are back at the hanger, right on time.
It is sunset and I am glad they got out of the sky before they lost the light. It ends up that the plane called in from the Santa Suzanna Pass and that I was right, that call sign was their's. They recount doing their level best to make my son's friend throw up and I guess that means they had a good time. lol
We head out and make a quick stop at the Army/Navy store in Van Nuys and then pick up a pizza for dinner. An interesting afternoon.
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