"I JUST SMILE"

When someone says, "My Dad learned to fly in a plane like that when he was a young man," I just smile. I think to myself, that maybe this is the very same plane that his Dad learned to fly. It was young once, too, twenty-eight years ago.

And when someone says, "I need rudder pedals because I like to keep my turns coordinated," I just smile. I know that the ball stays centered in my Ercoupe-turns better than it ever did when I flew my Cessna-turns.

When someone says, "I wouldn't feel safe in a plane that old," I just smile. I know that I'll never come spinning out of the sky just because I got careless in a turn too final. I know that the only plane that I feel really safe in is my Ercoupe.

And when someone says, "Did you know that fuel prices have gone up again," I just smile. And I think about my getting twenty miles per gallon, and at more than a hundred miles an hour.

When someone says, "Too bad you don't have any rudder pedals. . .there's a cross-wind today," I just smile. I know that if I come in with my wings level, the sturdy landing gear will swing me straight down the runway.

And when someone says, "I can write off the first year's depreciation from my new plane from my income tax, and it is quite a lot the first year," I just smile. My Ercoupe is worth more today, than it was the day they pushed it out the factory door, twenty-eight years ago.

When someone says, "Wow, my door came open just as I was taking off," or says, "The next plane I get will have to have air conditioning. . .I can't stand that hot cabin," I just smile. Then I step into my Ercoupe, put my elbow on the window sill and take off into the cool sky.

I smile a lot, because I can fly a lot. . . . .and fly. . . . .and fly.