Oct 2019 True Story from the LLT Fly-in
Reaction: Some stories are worth telling and this one from our LLT fly-in, I believe, is worthy. Let’s cut to the chase so you understand upfront that my reaction to the encounter was dumbfounded astonishment; my jaw dropped and I stared at her in amazement.
Musing: I continue to play the short episode in my mind, utterly mystified and wondering where I went wrong. What other words could I have used to more clearly convey my message?
The encounter: It takes place at our hotel, actually the front desk of the hotel where most of the LLT attendees stayed during our fly-in. It’s probably best to leave the hotel nameless although won’t take much to figure it out.
A young lady behind the desk saw me walk into the lobby late Saturday afternoon, called my name and waved me over. She was very sweet, charmingly southern, and was anxious to tell me a book had been left for me, a gift from tour guide Kathy Prud’Hommes Guin. Very nice!
The young lady quickly located the book and passed it on to me and I thanked her and started to walk away. Before I could turn she stopped me and said she had a question she’d been wondering about and could I please answer it? OK, I was ready to do my best. The question was “What is Ladies Love Taildraggers?” Ahh, an easy question! 🙂
The hotel lobby was quiet so I spent the better part of 6 or 7 minutes explaining the difference between conventional geared aircraft versus aircraft with a nosewheel. I went into the early history of taildraggers, how times have changed and that the vast majority of aircraft built today are not taildraggers, i.e. tailwheel aircraft. I explained that our ladies had made an active decision to fly a taildragger, an aircraft that takes a little more finesse to take off and land than a nosewheel aircraft. Also, that flying any airplane was a matter of study and practice and learning to fly either could be accomplished.
I gushed on and on about our fabulous lady pilot members, the distance some of them had flown to be at Natchitoches, the types of aircraft they flew and all the events and tours we were enjoying while in town.
OK, not too shabby an answer I thought, very thorough. This young lady was sure to be impressed with what it meant to be a member of Ladies Love Taildraggers!
She smiled like she was enjoying my answer, paused a moment after I stopped speaking and said, “Oh, ok, but did your husbands fly you here?”
I swear. True story.
The floor is open for discussion! 😉
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