During the last few months I was at Corry Field, located in Pensacola, Florida, I worked with a fellow named Paul Hamm from Opp, Alabama. On one occasion during night flying operations Paul decided to go for a flight riding in the rear seat of a flight instructor’s SNJ trainer aircraft. After donning a flight suit, helmet, parachute, and other assorted gear, nearly everyone looks alike.
When it was time for the flight to leave Paul crawled into the rear seat of the aircraft assigned to the instructor he was flying with. As the fifty or so aircraft lined up ready for takeoff, Paul told me later, he was grinning from ear to ear in anticipation of his chance to fly. Canopies closed, with a great roar of many engines they were airborne. After a couple of minutes over the intercommunications radio within the aircraft, Paul heard this rather plaintive voice saying, “Thank you Mr. Smith for allowing me to takeoff when this is only my first flight.”
Paul replied, “What do you mean this is your first flight? You’ve been a pilot for years.”
The voice in his headphones repeated, “No, this is my first flight Mr. Smith. I’m really happy that you allowed me the privilege of making the takeoff. We’ll be fine until we land. I have no idea how to do that.”
Paul retorted, “Stop pulling my leg Mr. Smith, I know that is you.”
The voice spoke once again, “Mr. Smith, you know I’m a student. Why are you acting this way?”
By this time Paul was becoming secure in the knowledge he had made a mistake and got in the wrong aircraft, and he was with a student, and not an instructor, and furthermore the student thought he was the instructor.
The banter went back and forth for a few more minutes before Paul finally heard a loud laugh from his headset and the voice saying, “I really had you going there for a few minutes didn’t I?”
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