Hey Frank, Great Story!

Back in 2001, just b/4 the whole 9/11 thing I was working on getting my tail wheel endorsement at Moriane Airpark just south of Dayton, OH. They have one runway running east/west along the banks of the Miami river. My instructor was a fearless 20 something who was very patient dealing with an old tri-gear trained pilot. We were using a Bellanca version of the Champ and after about 4 hours of training I could "land" it and keep it on the runway...sorta of. Anyway, one Saturday my son was visiting, and decided to come along to watch Dad practice at Moraine. Well, the FBO has this really nice big wooden deck that provides a great gathering spot for airport bums to watch the action. On this particular day we had a mixed and variable southerly cross-wind and coupled with the elevated runway dike at one end made for some interesting air flow.
We put in a good hours work on bang and bounce, after landing and closing out the paperwork my son joined me, and on the ride home he was laughing telling me about all the comments and grades I got by the boys on the deck! At least you didn't have a peanut gallery with live betting and score cards!


Joe