A Ride in a Pitts - Part I

I spent much of my free time in the 90's, hanging out at a little airport in New Jersey.  I had earned my pilot's license in 1984 following my freshman year in college.  By the time I finished law school in 1990 and took a job in NYC,  I had logged almost two hundred hours in a handful of different types of airplanes, received very basic aerobatic instruction and obtained what is known as a "tail wheel" endorsement.  For any non-pilot readers, we will get to tail wheels later so in pilot speak - "standby".  Getting a tail wheel endorsement was challenging and rewarding, the rest of my flying experience pretty undistinguished.

I started working as an associate at a locally notorious sweat shop law firm in New York in September 1990 after graduation and taking the bar.  The people and work were interesting, but the hours were insane.  I worked six days a week (and sometimes seven), twelve to fifteen hour days with regular all night soirees at the "printers" thrown in for good measure.  What price experience, grasshopper?  I needed a diversion and a girlfriend required time and energy that I didn't have.

So one weekday afternoon in the early summer of 1991, before attorneys in my firm were permitted to have computers in their office ("YOU are being paid for your brain, not your typing skills", but that is another story), while waiting for the word processing department to "turn" a draft of a contract, I started working the phones to try and find a place to rent a taildragger.  Three or four phone calls in, someone gave me the name of Sussex Airport with the information that someone in Sussex would rent you a Pitts Special.  My spine tingled.

What, you ask, is a Pitts Special?  I am in love, so I am likely the wrong guy to ask.  Think female uber-athlete - gorgeous, sleek, strong, agile and capable of taking you out if you make the wrong request. One huge smile.

A 1980 Pitts S-2S - makes the blood flow, doesn't it!

Back in the early 1940s, an amateur pilot and designer by the name of Curtis Pitts (December 9, 1916 – June 10, 2005) of Stillmore, GA, designed and built a little biplane that became known as the "Pitts Special".  I won't spend much time here on the history, but Bud Davisson wrote a wonderful book entitled "Pitts Specials - Curtis Pitts and his legendary biplanes" which covers the topic well.  The book is available here but must be out of print because it is expensive for a paperback.  I highly recommend it if you are interested, even at those prices.

The short history is that Curtis' design set the airshow and aerobatic world on fire in the late 40's thru the '70's and became the most popular and most recognized aerobatic airplane of all time.  There are several models of the airplane still in production and it is a favorite design for homebuilders - those crazy neighbors who build airplanes in their basements and then have to jack up their houses to get them out.

"Honey, it looks amazing and no, I can't believe you built it, but how do you plan to get it out of the basement?"

The body of the airplane or "fuselage" is made of chrome-moly steel tubing and covered with fabric, an incredibly strong, light and durable design.  Factory wings are all wood and gorgeously manufactured of tiny wooden pieces - industrial art for those so inclined - and very strong.  The airplane is renown for its agility and the light touch required to fly it well.  Given its intended use, Pitts Specials have a wonderful safety record and have protected many a pilot with honest flying qualities and excess built-in strength. The airplane has an undeserved reputation for being impossible to land.

We return now to our regularly scheduled story, back in an office on the 41st floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza searching for the telephone number for Sussex Airport.  This was pre-Internet, so I had to call directory assistance - 411 if I recall correctly - to get the number.  A friendly voice answered the phone: "Sussex Airport".  I would come to find out later that this voice was Paul Styger and that he was the owner and operator of Sussex Airport.  Paul quickly told me that I had been misinformed - no one rented Pitts Specials on the field, but he did offer that there was an aerobatic school on the field that had a Pitts.  The school was run by a retired American Airline Captain named Jim Chaudoin.  Did I want Jim's number?  My best Texas buddy M.L. would have answered with a grin "is the Pope Catholic?", but I just said "please".  Paul gave me Jim's number and we hung up.  I excitedly called Jim.  After a few rings, the answering machine picked up and the unmistakably commanding voice of an airline pilot delivered a greeting.  I left a message and went back to my drafting.

A week or so later, I received a phone call from Jim.  He was very friendly and gave me a quick rundown on the school's airplanes and pricing.  The school's primary training airplane was a Super Decathalon, 8KCAB, a 180 hp taildragger.  I had a decent amount of experience in the Decathalon's little brother, the Citabria, as it was the airplane in which I received my tailwheel endorsement and a little bit of aerobatic training.  We talked schedule for the upcoming weekend and Jim promised to have me in an airplane Saturday afternoon.

8KCAB - Super Decathalon

When Saturday morning finally came around, I began the dance that New Yorker's without cars get to do on weekends where their trip plan requires wheels. I rented one.  Renting a car in NYC is an unpleasant experience and even more so in the summer.  A subcompact costs at least $100 a day and the logistics of pickup and drop off and lines and surly customer service make you want to either move or just throw in the towel and go to Central Park and hang out with the other thirty or so thousand people who couldn't deal with renting a car in NYC.  I don't remember this particular experience as being too bad but I do remember that I arrived at Sussex Airport later than I had planned and Jim and crew had gone off to a diner on the edge of the field to have lunch.

My first impression of the airport was run down charm.  Situated on the outskirts of Sussex Borough, the airport looked like a stage from a movie set in the 1940’s.  Surrounded by dairy farms and the spectacular scenery of NW New Jersey, Sussex Airport was full of bustle and activity.  100 acres of land, one runway oriented north and south, a very large hangar with the letters “Sussex Airport” displayed in such large letters that you could read them from the air, and a field full of airplanes of every imaginable shape and size - garden variety Cessna’s and Pipers, WWII training airplanes, homebuilts, gliders, helicopters and more.  Around the airport, people were busy.  In the maintenance hangar, a 100 ft by 40 ft structure located next to the control tower, there were three or four mechanics and a couple of pilots working on their machines.  In the air, the landing “pattern” was full of airplanes of all types flown by an equally diverse group of pilots – veterans and students and almost everything in between.   For a lifelong aviation buff, Sussex Airport was nirvana.

I wandered around for a little while, trying to digest all of the scenery.  Eventually, Jim and the aerobatic crew came back from the diner.   Jim looked like he was in his sixties, about six foot seven, in good shape, with a firm handshake and a booming voice.  He introduced himself and a few members of his entourage and then proceeded to give me the bad news:  the Decathalon was broken and the part would not arrive for a few days.  Ugh.  I was disappointed - all those logistics to get out to Sussex and nothing.  I asked Jim if there was anything else we could use and he said no - just the Pitts and because I was a beginner, a lesson in the Pitts would be more of a ride than a learning experience.

We began to chat more generally and all wandered over to Jim's hangar.  Crammed, wing to wing in a 36 foot by 36 foot space were 4 Pitts Specials, two single seaters and two with two seats.  The front two machines were polished and glowing. The third, a single seater dubbed the "Green Machine", was covered in oil. The fourth and final Pitts, which will be the protagonist of a future post, was tucked into the back corner of the hangar under cover.  In person, the machines were tiny and spectacular.  I spent a few more moments admiring the flock and finally told Jim that a ride/lesson in the Pitts sounded fine.  He didn't think it was such a great idea - "too much airplane for a beginner", but after coming to understand the logistics involved in my travel to Sussex, he reluctantly agreed.

 ......to be continued