Stearman Ride
October 19, 2003

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1943 Boeing PT-17 Stearman

On a gorgeous, Fall Sunday my Dad and I had the pleasure of flying this beautiful 1943 Boeing PT-17 Stearman biplane. Our pilot was Stafano Rapisarda, CFI. At the time Stefano was a glider tow pilot at Hinckley Airport and also gave flight instruction at Blue Sky Aero in Morris, IL. We had met him the previous day in Morris but the crosswind was too high to safely fly. So we agreed to meet in Hinckley this day and the weather cooperated - and besides, what better place to fly an old biplane than off a grass strip? Stefano has since moved on to fly for SkyWest Airlines.

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A classic beauty on a beautiful day.
Dad getting ready
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Rollout....
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Tail up....
Departure....
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Low pass....(I wish there was audio of this!)
Touchdown
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Taxiing back
Can you tell this man just had a great flight?
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My turn!
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Aerial view of Hinckley Airport 0C2
Myself with Stefano. (I'm not losing my hair, it was cut short and the hat is pulling it back!)
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On downwind
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Dad doing a left turn.
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Myself doing a right turn. Great pics Stefano!
A beautiful picture Stefano took earlier in the morning.

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