I often talk to people who just can't understand the passion I have for aviation. It's a bug, it really is. You either have it, or you don't, and if you don't you can never be made to understand why we do it. Aviation as a whole is made up of many parts, not all of them aircraft related. This brings me to one of my favorite parts of flying: courtesy cars.
A friend and I were soliciting donations for our OSU Flying Aggies fund raising banquet that we have coming up here in a few weeks, and we decided to prop on over to Tulsa and drop off some solicitation letters at a couple of the local airport businesses. We flew over, dropped off the letters, and asked if we could get a courtesy car from the FBO. Courtesy cars are usually old, ratted out Ford P.O.S.'s. This time, without any making us buy any fuel, show any ID, or any time limit at all, gave us the keys to a brand, spankin' new Chevy Z71 4x4. This truck might have cost as much as the airplane we flew in on. We abused our privileges, zipped around town a bit and returned the truck to the FBO. Then we hopped back in our plane, flew 10 miles from Tulsa Riverside Airport to Tulsa International Airport and did it all over again. This time, we were once again given access to the car without buying fuel, showing ID, or given any time limit. Disappointment, however, as this one was a late 90's Ford Taurus. Oh well, nothing beats the '69 Land Yacht that we got at Conway, AR a few years ago. Large engine, bald tires, no suspension... it was sweet.
Ciao,
Jeff C.
