I Finally Flew in a Ford Tri-Motor
after waiting over 50 years

Ever since I could remember, I wanted to fly in a Tri-motor.  As a boy, my family would vacation near Port Clinton, Ohio.  Port Clinton, at that time, had an airline called Island Airlines.  They were flying Tri-motors to the islands.

As the years passed, I never gave up hope in getting a ride.  Once I had a pilots license, I  flew to Oshkosh for the big fly-in and guess what was there? The EAA Ford Tri-motor.  Unfortunately, I wasn't the only person wanting to fly in a Tri-motor.  The lines were incredibly long, even at the break of dawn.

Four times at Oshkosh and I never got around to waiting in those long lines.  And the EAA Tri-motor flew all day long, every day.  The sound of those engines kept tugging at my senses.  Oh Al....here I am again.  Come on, get in.

One day I received a post card in the mail.  The EAA Tri-motor was coming to a town near me.  Well, it's over 1.5 hrs driving time each way.  I thought I had better do this and not wait any longer.

I mentioned the aircraft was coming to this area at work and one of my coworkers wanted to go.  I asked my wife and she also wanted to go.  So I reserved three seats on the 1100AM flight.

My co-worker and I had to be at work by 3PM so driving would be calling it close because I would have to go out of my way to pick up Gracie and drop her off afterwards  And, all it takes is one idiot on the road and we are all stuck.  So, since I have a plane, I decided we would fly.  Of course, I began worrying about the weather and the flight is over a month away.

When the day arrived, the weather was great.  Just a little fog remained as can be seen in the above picture.  By the time 99C was ready, the fog had cleared.  And we were off.

The air was smooth and we arrived at Blue Ash in no time.  Gracie works directly across the street from the airport and she was waiting for us to land.

She boarded and we were off again to Sporty's, Clermont County airport in Batavia, Ohio.  I could see the Tri-motor while I was in the pattern to land.  I was really getting excited now.

Once we landed, we taxied to the far end of the runway and parked 99C.  Not many people were waiting and I began to wonder what was up.  As it turns out, the tour hadn't been much of a success.  What a shame.  But there it was!  Finally, I was going to get my ride.  We were the second load of the day and the first was getting to board as we parked.

As is turned out, there was a little down time awaiting the arrival of some of the other passengers for our flight. With the delay, an antique car owner wanted to take pictures of his 1929 car next to the 1929 Tri-motor.  The EAA officials gave him permission to do so.

Come on guys, I want to take my ride!  Well, that's what I was thinking.  As it turns out, the car was absolutely beautiful and utterly perfect.  It made the experience extra special.

After the delay due to late arriving passengers and the photo op, we were told to board.  It's hard to express the feeling you get when you are at the very start of an event you've waited a lifetime to do.  I entered first ahead of my wife.  Protocol went out the window.

I was immediately struck by the interior of the cabin.  I somehow thought of a boat instead of an airplane. 

To this day, I don't know why I thought of a boat. Perhaps is was because of the manner in which the cabin was finished.  It's doesn't have that typical airliner look.

 Anyway, I moved up and sat in the first seat on the left.  Gracie was right behind me and sat in the first seat on the right.  After a short period of looking around and wondering when we were going to get the show on the road, the pilot and one ground member boarded and belted up in the cockpit.

The dark object hanging on the wall is an Altimeter.

Anticipation starts to build awaiting the cranking of the first engine.

That's Gracie trying to see what's going on in the cockpit.

Finally, we have engine start.  All three fire up in short order.  Oh boy!

I hope you have a good sound system.  Turn it up!

Taxi start

N2999C appears then disappears again behind the engine as we taxi.

Engine Run up

You know you are getting close to taking the active when the run up is complete.  We are ready for takeoff.

Take off

I loved that takeoff.  The aircraft lifts off around 65 MPH.  Did you notice when the tail came up before liftoff?

Sporty's disappears behind the engine on climb out and if I had just a few more seconds of movie, the shadow of the Tri-motor would have flown over 999C.  That would have been a nice touch.

I was so surprised when I first viewed the takeoff movie because I had to hold the camera up and simply guess at where to aim it for the ground shot out Gracie's window.  I had no idea I would capture the shadow or even have a usable shot.

As in all good things, they come to an end.

Touchdown 

What a fantastic ride.  I really enjoyed that flight. It was worth the wait. 

Did you notice the wires cutting through the picture on the outside of the aircraft?  Those are the control cables.  My airplane has them inside.  That makes my annual inspection expensive.  The Tri-motor control cables are on the outside where it's easy to inspect them. That is less expensive.

This year, while at Oshkosh and when I hear the Tri-motor flying over, I'll look up and see an old friend.  That will be the very plane I waited over 50 years to fly.

I'm glad I waited all these years.  Had I flown as a child, I would have not appreciated what happened.  Now, in my later years, the experience was wonderful.  Every time I watch my movies, I relive the experience.  The cost was $40 each.  $40 bucks.  Such a deal ...Allen