I am constantly in awe of the brotherhood of the Vans/Experimental flying world. Since joining your ranks, I have met, and continue to meet, the most outstanding men/women who are involved with these aircraft. Let me tell you about just one such encounter...
He may or may not prefer to be named, so I will just call him Friend. My wife and I were flying home one evening recently from a wedding when I noticed the alternator had seemingly failed. Being overcast for hundreds of miles and still 2.5 hours from home, I decided best to land while I still have juice (I'm all electric). Pulling up to the ramp at 5:30PM, the lineman said, "Well the maintenance shop just left for the day but I might know one fella who could help you". Then I met my new Friend.
He was hanging out in his hangar, which held some beautiful RV's, and was probably getting ready to go home and eat dinner. This generous, caring, friendly man proceeded to spend the next 6 hours of his life helping my wife and I get our plane repaired and back home. We drove to no less than 4 auto parts stores until we found one that had the alternator we needed. Not only did he replace my alternator, he also demonstrated many other tips and tricks that will be very useful to me.
By the time I took back off for home, I felt like we were old buddies, and I hope to see him again in the future. This is Pay It Forward at it's best. I look forward to Paying It Forward to one of you out there someday too. I'm based at Bowman Field KLOU if y'all need anything. I could have just as easily been stranded at a random airport, spending the night, waiting for a maintenance shop to open up, but I sure got lucky that night and am forever grateful to my new friend and the entire RV/exp./aviation community. Thank you sir and fly safe, you are our hero!
He may or may not prefer to be named, so I will just call him Friend. My wife and I were flying home one evening recently from a wedding when I noticed the alternator had seemingly failed. Being overcast for hundreds of miles and still 2.5 hours from home, I decided best to land while I still have juice (I'm all electric). Pulling up to the ramp at 5:30PM, the lineman said, "Well the maintenance shop just left for the day but I might know one fella who could help you". Then I met my new Friend.
He was hanging out in his hangar, which held some beautiful RV's, and was probably getting ready to go home and eat dinner. This generous, caring, friendly man proceeded to spend the next 6 hours of his life helping my wife and I get our plane repaired and back home. We drove to no less than 4 auto parts stores until we found one that had the alternator we needed. Not only did he replace my alternator, he also demonstrated many other tips and tricks that will be very useful to me.
By the time I took back off for home, I felt like we were old buddies, and I hope to see him again in the future. This is Pay It Forward at it's best. I look forward to Paying It Forward to one of you out there someday too. I'm based at Bowman Field KLOU if y'all need anything. I could have just as easily been stranded at a random airport, spending the night, waiting for a maintenance shop to open up, but I sure got lucky that night and am forever grateful to my new friend and the entire RV/exp./aviation community. Thank you sir and fly safe, you are our hero!
