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10/08 - Jump In, Just Do It, and Get It Done Quickly

By Steve Krog

“Jump in, just do it, and get it done quickly. I didn’t pursue flying lessons in this manner and it took me years to finally get the job done and earn my sport pilot license,” offers Leroy Brandt. “I guess it was a bit of fear of flying, too, I’m afraid of heights but flying is all together different than climbing a ladder, fortunately. I was also working full time and raising a family so both time and money were short.”

Brandt started flying model airplanes in 1965 following his discharge from the military, flying run-of-the-mill models for many years. In the 1980s he began building giant scale model airplanes and traveled all over the United States demonstrating them. When Leroy wasn’t demonstrating these beautiful models, he practiced flying them at the Lodi Airport, a small grass strip in central Wisconsin. It was there that he met and became good friends with Richard “Doc” Knutson and his son, Dan, well known airplane restorers.

Brandt, a 63-year-young retiree from Madison Gas & Electric, had always been interested in full-scale aviation because most of his models were patterned after these airplanes. However, the opportunity to even get a ride in a “real” airplane just didn’t present itself until his meeting with the Knutsons.

“Although I was exposed to flying, I didn’t know anyone to go flying with until I met Doc and Dan,” he said. “Had I had an opportunity to go for some rides or get some time in the air, the fear factor may have dissipated earlier and I would have begun taking flying lessons.”

In 2004, he decided to take the plunge into flight lessons but was soon sidetracked. Brandt pursued lessons again in 2006 but once again never finished. It was about this time that he decided to try his hand at building a “real” airplane, ordered a Sonex kit, and began building in earnest.

He really missed flying, though, and soon discovered the ultralight movement. The ultralight regulations were undergoing changes, however, so after a few flights he decided it was time to get serious and pursued a Sport Pilot Certificate. Giving serious thought to the type of flying he had done and expected to do, sport pilot seemed to offer everything he needed.

“I asked Doc and Dan for advice and they suggested that I check out Cub Air Flight, a flight school located in Hartford, Wisconsin,” Brandt recalled. “I did a little research and found several articles that had appeared in the Sport Aviation magazine about the flight school and the training philosophy they followed.”

Brandt paid a visit to Hartford just before EAA AirVenture 2008 to see for himself what the flight school was all about. Liking what he saw, Leroy enrolled and began flying three or four times each week, beginning on August 6, 2008.

According to Brandt, the toughest part of the flight-training curriculum was mastering the tail wheel Cub. It was a little more challenging than putting a Cessna on the runway.

“The Cub seems to be pretty easy to handle and fly but I soon learned it’s hard to do everything well,” offered Brandt. “One day you can make good landings and then the next day it seems you can’t do anything right. Learning to land the Cub was the hardest part of the training, at least for me.

“Wind and weather conditions vary daily. One day it’s calm and the following day there is a slight crosswind. Each day requires different skills to master the Cub,” he added.

Brandt progressed rapidly and about seven weeks later he had mastered all of the maneuvers, including the crosswind landings, and the dual and solo cross country flights. In between flight lessons he studied a sport pilot DVD and passed the written test. “I should have scored 100 percent on the test but I was in a hurry and missed several questions and only scored 90 percent,” Brandt said.

Once he began flight lessons and told my friends about them, they all offered a great deal of encouragement and were supportive all along the way. Brandt’s wife was also very supportive, advising him to go out and get it done or don’t do it at all. “I guess she was tired of hearing me talk about it for so long,” Brandt said.

He soon scheduled his check ride and began to make final preparations. “The day before the checkride I was really nervous,” Brandt said, “but the day of the checkride I really felt confident. The anticipation was a whole lot worse than the actual checkride.”

Brandt sailed through the oral portion of the checkride and was able to answer every question that was presented. The examiner offered in the post checkride critique that, “Leroy really knew his stuff.”

“The examiner began the checkride by telling me that perfection is not the standard. Rather, there are parameters for each maneuver. That helped put me at ease. When the checkride was over, I felt I could have done some of the things better but, as the examiner stated, perfection is not the standard,” said Brandt.

The flight portion of the checkride went well. “The checkride was a piece of cake except for my landings, which weren’t as smooth as I was capable of. There weren’t any surprises. My instructor had really prepared me for it. It was everything we had done and less, which was nice,” Brandt said.

Although he’s been attending AirVenture since the mid 1970s, Brandt usually only stayed a day or two. For the last 10 years, though, he’s been camping for the week, taking in everything the event has to offer. A friend he met while camping is a Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) and they’ve camped next to one another for the last four years. The CFI offered Leroy some very sound advice in preparation for his checkride: “Correct any mistakes right away. If you lose or gain a little altitude be sure to correct it and get back to the desired altitude. Fly safe and you can never do too many clearing turns watching for other traffic.”

“I recalled this advice while flying the checkride and it was really sound advice, Brandt said. “One can never be too safe or too careful when flying.”

A very happy new Sport Pilot, Leroy Brandt, completed flight training
and took the checkride seven weeks after beginning.

When asked what advice he would offer to other sport pilot students, Brandt suggested starting a little sooner. He feels that it’s a little tougher when you are older, and the sooner you pursue it the better you will be at it.

“Just take the plunge and don’t mess around any longer. You can think about it for so long and finally you just have to do it,” states Brandt.

Oh, and the Sonex. Brandt expects to have it finished in time to fly during the summer of 2009. He looked at purchasing a light-sport aircraft but decided to build instead for the cost savings. However, he adds, there are many good classic airplanes out there that meet the LSA requirements and can be purchased for a very reasonable price. It all depends on what you want.

“I chose to build my own airplane because I’m quite handy with tools and decided I wanted the challenge,” he said.

“People are the best part of aviation,” Brand added. “I’ve met and made many new friends by camping at AirVenture, and we all have the same interests. It’s great fun to sit around in the evening and just talk airplanes and flying.”

In his pursuit of his pilot certificate, Brandt says he drove over 3,300 miles and consumed 630 gallons of gas.

“But it was a great experience. I wouldn’t trade it for anything!”

Editor’s Note: Brandt is also an active member of EAA Chapter 1389 in Middleton, Wisconsin. The chapter holds three Young Eagle events and one pancake breakfast every year plus conducts several other club projects and activities.

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