Years back we took the kids to Disney World. (what a pain in the butt. hot/humid/kids complaining about the long lines/etc)

Last day there I saw a sign for an air museum of sorts. Stopped and there was an AT6 parked near the building. I was out there looking at the engine and a guy who turned out to be the plane's owner walked up. I told him about working on the Wright-Cyclone 1820 radials when in service. We had a great visit.

He finally said "Look, I'm here for hire to take people for rides. The normal rate is $XXX for a basic fly around. For an extra $XXX I'll take you up and we can go have some fun over some land my buddy owns." I think the tab was $400.00. I signed up.

We went for one hell of a ride! Rolls, hammer heads, pretend strafing runs, on and on. The canopy was open and he snap rolled once so hard my headset came off and we're flying upside down while I'm trying to reel the headset back in by its cord. We had a good laugh about that.

When it was time to head back he said "You have the airplane" and let me fly as I wished by myself. He helped me with the basic approach but then put his hands up again and literally let me land it too. He commented a couple times about me having a light touch. I didn't care of he was blowing smoke at me or not, it was a fantastic experience.

Dad was still around then and had a really nice Cherokee Archer. He loved taking it out on an early morning and putting around. After my visit to Florida trips in the Archer were quite dull. All I could think of was how much I wished that Archer was capable of aerobatics. Dad's version of a thrill ride was buzzing something at about 500 feet!