Here's Mikey (last name withheld to protect him from his insurance company) who flew with us on November 10, 2000.  By the way, for those of you who may wonder:  Samantha is a dog.

Mr. Gilson,

Thank you again for the great time. Please feel free to add the following
commentary to your log...

"It was a cold clear Friday morning. The sun was trying to burn off the haze
but without a lot of success. Samantha had a little more fun than usual
sticking her tongue in my ear and licking off the morning goo from the
corner of my mouth. We laid in bed discussing the newspaper and quizzed each
other on quantum physics theories. We could see our breath as we talked.
Then, without warning the phone rang. we let the machine answered it, the
message that was left was "do you feel lucky?" Today was the day I was going
to defy gravity. I felt safe, Al doesn't take unnecessary risks. Heck, he
rarely raises when he has three of a kind. I was in good hands. After
arriving at Felts Field he seemed a little concerned that the sock thingy on
that long stick was moving kind of erratic. I thought it was fun to watch.
Al checked out the plane and pointed out to me several of the new bolts that
were changed out since the last time he flew this plane. My confidence in his
abilities went up a notch. He knew how to start the engine, steer with his
feet and talk the talk with the guy in the tower. Up another notch. Life is
good. We quickly got off the ground and had a great time bouncing around and
scoping out the view. Wow! Cool stuff. Our return and landing seemed just
fine to me but the pilot seemed 'extremely focused' while making it all
happen. After the fact he commented that the wind, then 25 knots, was much
faster than his comfort zone, thus his stress during the last few minutes.
Fortunately, we had discussed crash landing scenarios throughout the flight
so I was ready for anything. It is a good thing that I am not claustrophobic
and could hold my breath for 45 minutes. Looking forward to the next time."

"Mikey"

(See Mikey holding his quivering knees up on the Flying Photo page

Here's Mikey  again for a flight on May 18, 2001

"Stardate 05.18.2001.17:23GMT

Because Mars is moving real close to earth and the Mariners are on a
roll I decided to push the envelope once again. Sans medication and on
my own free will I entered an antigravity device and shot for the stars.
Actually, Captain Al did the shooting and I just sat, smiled (a lot),
took pictures and pondered my fate.

It was a fabulous time. We headed north and it gave me a real view of
the lay of the land. I never realized the number of people living in
rural Spokane County. We had lots-o-fun naming some of the new lakes we
discovered, waving to the people on the ground and singing (well, Al did
all of the singing, something about Romeo, Romeo, Romeo).

Al had a great one-wheel landing and he only said "oops" a couple of
times. I am feeling safer and safer up there. Shortly after our one-hour
extravaganza we went through debriefing at the Gonzaga Debriefing
Centre. At that time we consulted the area maps and to our surprise
those lakes we discovered already had names. Darn it.

Maybe, just maybe we will be able to do this again.":

Mikey T

Once again Al convinced me to be ballast in one of his experiments. I
didn't complain, much. The weather was great, the skies were not very
crowded and the plane had a little more than a full tank of gas. There
is nothing like the smell of aircraft fuel in the morning. Okay, enough
of the intro fluff, on to the actual report.

Passenger and pilot had a great time. Speed, altitude, 20-mile
visibility, good conversation, creative thinking and a short farting
contest made this a perfect midday escape.

At one point the captain commented that the plane "didn't seem to want
to fly". I thought he was joking, he wasn't. No big deal. He figured it
out, the plane began to fly and we lived. That is why he is the captain
and I am only the passenger. I didn't even know that we weren't flying
so I would have never have been able to fix the problem.

One observation, the guy on the radio in the tower isn't a fun person.
Not one joke, not one slightly humorous anecdote, not even a voice
inflection. Now that Al has showed me how to use the radio I will work
on the tower guy and try to liven things up a little next time we are in
the air. Can't wait.

Mikey (last name withheld)

Another comment from Mikey.  Why is he the only one of my passengers that will comment on their flight?
 

Our Watch - 9/21/2001 - 19:20 Zulu

To do our part in the protection of the good old US of A captain Al and
terrorist spotter Mikey (aka ballast) took to the skies to look for, and
intimidate if need be, the bad guys. Armed with high tech avionic,
surveillance and communication equipment we selflessly went forth and
did what had to be done. Captain Al felt our services were most needed
over Coeur Duane Lake and he was right. We were successful, the lake was
protected and absolutely no terrorist activity took place in that
thriving metropolis during our watch. Debriefing took a little longer
than normal but this is America we were protecting and if it takes 4
hours to debrief so be it.

My speaking engagement at the Standard Group Creative Extrapolation
Symposium had to be delayed today because Captain Al requested my
assistance. I am always happy to rearrange my schedule to help a friend out
in his time of need. Okay, okay, flying is a heap more fun than working or
"speaking" with a group of associates so my decision really was a no
brainer.

Visibility was great, the scenery was neat'o pete'o and the lack of thermal
updrafts helped make this a super smooth flight. The captain allowed me to
pilot said vehicle for 400' (vertically). Actually, he had hoped I would fly
level but my 'death grip' on the controls seemed to be a problem. Maybe next
time he will let me try a nosedive.

We headed northeast, toward Mt. Spokane where I wanted to stop and make a
snowball but Al said 'no'. We then buzzed the Kroetch estate at Spirit Lake,
Idaho and took several pictures. On the flight back Captain Al chit chatted
with the pilot of a Lear jet in the CDA area. They didn't socialize much,
they just talked airplane talk. You would think the would at least exchange
some good jokes or something.

The coolest part of the flight was the awesome U-turn and perfect landing. I
was duly impressed. Al said something about how great it is to be alive. I
am still not sure what he meant by that.

I am looking forward to another schedule altering excursion.

Mikeyanonymous

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