Page 4 - TNT Dec 2017

editor’s briefing by Dianne White
2 • TWIN & TURBINE
December 2017
A Passion That’s Not Aviation
If you are like 99 percent of aviation families I know, not everyone in your family embraces aviation the way you do. You may eat, sleep and breathe flying and if you’re lucky, some in your clan may join in your obsession. I feel incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by family members
who are pilots: my mother (THE aviation matriarch of our familial tree), father, husband, father- in-law and eldest daughter.
The one exception to this lovefest is the youngest of our two daughters, Erin. This sweet, talented young woman has many interests and passions, but aviation isn’t one of them. Certainly, she loves to travel and has been flying in GA airplanes since she can remember. Spring break trips to the Caribbean, vacations in the mountains, visits to Grandma’s, transportation to camp...most of these voyages were made possible thanks to general aviation. So, while she prefers taking one of our airplanes versus suffering through the TSA/airline gauntlet, she has no desire to assume the left seat. During the holidays (and countless other times, too), she suffers through long, boring discussions about airplanes, avionics and “there I was” flying stories. And she does it mostly without complaint.
There is one type of flying with which Erin has an anomalous obsession. Since she was seven, she has wanted to skydive. It was the thing she begged for at every birthday and Christmas. Much to her father Tim’s relief, the law states you must be the age of consent – 18 years – to skydive in the United States. The countdown began 11 years ago to her 18th birthday. Her sister and I readily agreed that we would go with her when the time came. Quite adamantly, Tim saw absolutely no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, unless it was on fire. He said, “I will happily stay on the ground and cheer you on.”
Finally, Erin turned 18, and the day of her long-awaited jump arrived. It would be tandem, with experienced skydiving instructors strapped to our backs. As we signed the waivers and prepared to begin the ground training, I noticed Tim pacing back and forth. Thinking he was nervous about our impending jump, I stepped over to reassure him.
“That’s not it at all – okay maybe a little bit – but I can’t be the wimp who’s sitting on the ground while all three of his girls leap out of an airplane.” With that, he threw down his credit card and began furiously filling out forms.