It’s a Bird, a Plane, an Experimental Plane

My friend Randy Phillips has had this interesting hobby of building experimental aircraft in his garage and then taking them out for a flight. Well, I can tell you right now there isn't enough Depends in the world for me to get into something that is unproven as far as flying goes. I have the utmost respect for test pilots who are told by engineers that this aircraft they just built will fly. So they strap themselves in and away they go down the runway with hopes that those engineers are correct.  Don't get me wrong, I like adventure and I love to fly. But I like to fly in aircraft that is proven to be able to do so. Now, I have skydived before and loved it as well, but there was a really good chance that the chute was going to open up before I went.  Flying in an experimental aircraft is a different animal. Speaking of experimental aircraft, it was 5 years ago this week that a man from Bend, Oregon flew 193 miles to Idaho by attaching helium balloons to a lawn chair. It probably started as a joke but the joke was on him when he had no way to come back down.  Now my friend Randy's aircraft are actually capable of taking off and landing with no balloons needed. More power to you Randy!