POPTUN - Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd get the opportunity to FLY in Guatemala!  There was a guy named Harry - from Norton MA of all places - who's been coming to the Finca Ixobel for years and years.  He used to be a Navy pilot among other things and now runs an electrical business in the states... well, when he's not down here or in Antigua.  Years ago he was down here and noticed that nobody was using the little airstrip in town. He inquired and learned that he could use it free of charge, so he bought an old school bus, loaded it up with his ultralight airplane, and drove it down to the Finca.  Then he sold the bus!  Anyway, as a result, Anna and I got to fly his plane. 

I've been itching to fly ever since I stopped taking flight lessons so I can't even express to you how much fun I had.  Can you tell by the photo?  I flew the thing for almost the entire time except on take off and landing.  The landing was a little hairy actually, but I was confident.  The locals don't seem to understand that they should 'move off the runway' when a plane is coming in.  Oh well, nobody got a haircut.



Anna took a bunch of shots... I 'think' this is me on take-off...



Here's a shot of our friend Frederique before she took her flight.  She was really excited to try it out and was interested in every little bit of the aircraft.  Harry is up there refilling the gas-tank.  The plane is literally a gas-can with wings... powered by a little Rotax motor.  Jim, Jay, John, Greg... know what else is powered by Rotax?  (oh Greg I forgot, you wouldn't know that)



Okay, so now it's Anna's turn!  She described the plane as a 'lawn chair with wings'.  Not such an innacurate description I guess!  It was such a simple little craft, but MAN was it fun.  Here's her before take off just after the controls brief by Harry... (i got a video of her take off but I couldn't get it up on the site)



Anna was a little nervous so I was really happy to see her go up.  When she got down I was even happier to hear that she actually did try flying for a bit!  When I landed she thought I was going to crash because the plane was 'all over the road'... so I explained that it was just ground turbulence and that her landing would feel the same... BUT that she shouldn't worry because 1. Harry knows exactly what he's doing and 2. once you get to 10-15 feet above ground it would smooth right out and be a light gentle touch-down.  On her approach she remembered my words when she felt the plane get a little crazy, but then it smoothed right out and she was fine.  Not sure if she'll want to play pilot again but I think she'd have another go as a passenger in the 'lawn chair'.

It was amazing how many people came to watch Harry and his strange little aircraft (and yes, some had guns).  Harry said that they come hoping he crashes so they can see something really cool... we thought he was kidding but he insisted he wasn't.  Harry was quite a character... he gave us all a brief on how the plane worked and pretended not to know what any of the control surfaces were called.  He had an easy going laid back attitude... as he and I flew over the 'Guatemalan Special Forces' base he took it in stride.  Most of all he really seemed to enjoy what he was doing... if we come back to the Finca I'm going to take some lessons with him.  Here are some of the kids that came to the airfield.  I'm not sure what they liked better... watching the plane or getting their picture taken.

 

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