On 5/5/2012 10:03 AM, RD Sandman wrote:
> Jeff M<NoS...@NoThanks.Org> wrote in
>
news:04ydnXBgavB54znS...@giganews.com:
>
>> On 5/4/2012 7:08 PM, Gray Guest wrote:
>> [snip]
>>>
>>> And you think that Bush was stupid enough to trap on a carrier when he
>>> clearly might have good knowledge about how hard it was?
>>
>> One of Bush's strong suits is that he seems like a "regular guy," the
>> sort who'd be good to have as neighbor or drink a beer with. Any
>> regular guy I know would jump at the chance to experience a carrier
>> landing. I darn sure would.
>>
>
> There is a big difference between experiencing a landing on a carrier and
> actually landing one.
>
> BTW, when was Bush disqualified from flying F-102s? It is not an easy AC
> to fly but last I heard he had qualified to do so.
When he disobeyed an order to take a flight physical from an AF
physician, the first one he faced to potentially include the then-new
drug tests. He was automatically DQed from flight status, but, for
whatever reason, never faced a hearing board that being DQed should have
mandated, nor any on-record disciplinary action for disobeying an order.
But things were different then.
The only account of his actual flying ability I've read is a somewhat
dubious account of a supposed flight in a Cessna. Here's a sample of
the stories:
"Bush really flying in a Cessna 172 in 1976:
NOT LONG AFTER Reisner's delicate trip to Midland[summer 1976], Bush
banged on the door of Susie and Don Evans on an otherwise placid Sunday
afternoon and suggested to Don that they head out to the airport and
spend a few bucks for a spin over the desiccated Permian Basin in a
single-engine Cessna. Susie Evans, who had gone to elementary school
with Bush, was a longtime Midland presence, and when she had been dating
her future husband in Houston, she had frequently stayed at the Bush
house. She had moved back to Midland, and after she had heard that Bush
was back in town, she and her husband had frequently invited him over.
Her husband Don Evans... Willard... was a short, fastidious,
narrow-faced oilman in his early thirties who was poised to assume
control of the Tom Brown Company, one of the legendary older names in
the West Texas patch. Bush had begun spending more time at the Evanses'
apartment in the Windsor Courts, drinking cocktails with them and
leaving his laundry for Susie to do. Bush liked Evans's politics, he
liked that they were about the same age and that both of them had recent
MBAs. He liked the fact that Evans's old man had landed on the beach at
Normandy during World War II.
Evans said he'd love to go flying. At the airport he watched Bush stare
at the controls, at the panel, and he realized that Bush-though not
admitting it-had no idea how to fly the thing properly. After finally
figuring out how to launch the plane, Bush pushed the Cessna hard down
the runway. Evans screamed, "Give it some gas!" The Cessna's warning
system was blinking and crackling. Bush tried to lift his craft fast,
almost as if he were piloting a jet back in the Texas Air National
Guard. The plane wobbled into the air, and the unsubtle maneuvering
threatened to shove it into a stall. Now the rented plane was rattling
in the sky over Midland
The endless petrochemical complexes, all the aluminum and steel and
smoke stacks that pockmark the Permian Basin, were spiking up just below
the aircraft. Bush nervously turned to Evans, put his hand on his knee
and blurted in his self-mocking West Texas way, "Okay, Evvie, I’ve got
it under control."
After more seemingly endless moments, he somehow got control of the
plane again. He aimed the aircraft down, and the landing was as shaky
and brutal as the takeoff. The plane careened off the runway and onto
the desert. Evans sighed in relief. Then an unbelieving Evans braced
himself as Bush suddenly and unexpectedly spun the plane and bounced
back along the runway. Evans stared at Bush. He could see the fear and
panic flooding his face. Bush pressed on. Evans had no idea why Bush
wanted to go again. The plane wobbled uncertainly back into the West
Texas skies, and Bush turned to Evans. "Hey," said Bush airily, as if he
had just had an original, amusing idea, "let's fly around Midland."
The men began cracking up. Bush brought the Cessna back to the airport.
It was the last time he flew a plane. Evans would be one of the three
people at Bush's side in almost every public venture for the
twenty-three years.
Minutaglio pg 175&176
Here is another version:
Donnie Evans remembered a similar story involving an airplane. He told
David Maraniss that less than a year after George W. first got back to
Midland he came over to Donnie's house and told him he wanted to take a
single-engine Cessna for a little joyride. They drove over to the
airfield and got in the plane. Then George W. realized he didn't have a
clue how to fly a Cessna.
"The guy didn't even know how to start the thing," Evans reportedly
said. "That was a bad omen. Finally we get it started and roll down the
runway, and he tries to take it straight up like a jet! We go into a
stall, buzzers are going off. I say, 'Give it some gas!' We finally get
it airborne, and he decides he better turn around and go back. I can
tell he's nervous, but he says, 'Okay, Evvie, got it under control.' We
come down and he lands half on the runway and half on the grass. And
then he pats my leg and says don't worry, and he takes it up again. This
time he's so scared he says, 'Hey, let's fly around Midland.' He had to
get his confidence up. Somehow we got back safely. He's never flown again."
http://www.seanet.com/~johnco/bush102.htm