Flight training in Dallas and days in SA...1995

Early flight training in Dallas USA and times in SA

Flying thoughts…..
written May, 1995 while learning to fly in Dallas. A wonderful phase of my life.
Lots of adventures good flying and various ratings came afterwards….

There was an aviation forum on Compuserve and through that many fine friendships were made and have been kept over the years.

Just a fun article I hauled from the depths, that I do not think my kids have ever read. Probably needs some editing.

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Firstly I would like to say I am shocked, astonished, amazed, stunned, and speechless in having this honour bestowed upon me. I still wonder if the Sysops have made a mistake. To put a lowly low timer up for this, who couldn’t even get her PPL in 40hrs-------with the likes of the heavy metal drivers, aviation writers, ex-air force hero’s, smart lawyers, doctors, a WW11 ace, an astronaut, aviators with ratings in hundreds of planes and thousands of hours flying under their belts and on and on it goes. I am humbled and thank the AVSIG sysops for this honour. I hope I can live up to it. I have the ability to merely fly a Beechcraft Sport, a Cessna 172, and been allowed to taxi a Beech Duchess!!

Right, here goes, and its not very interesting.!! Penelope (Penny) Jones was born on 12th September 1951----(that makes me 29yrs old)-----in a village called Caledon,Cape Province South Africa. Caledon is not far from Cape Agulhas,the southern most tip of Africa. Fall off the rocks there and you will end up in Antarctica. I was raised in a beautiful seaside resort called Hermanus, 80miles east of Cape Town. My childhood was made up of roaming the mountains, freedom—and school somewhere in between. I developed a deep love for the great outdoors and knew my environment well. It has become a life long passion and I take great delight in camping in the African bush, hundreds of miles from habitation and delighting in the wonders of nature and its creatures. I dived for abalone and lobsters in the school holidays and developed a deep affinity and respect for the sea.

At an early age my dad taught me to fish, and shoot a variety of guns----skeet and clay pigeon stuff as well------much to my mothers horror. But I abhor any form of unnecessary hunting and only like to shoot with a camera!!

I lived next to a golf course and started golf very young. Snuk onto the golf links every evening and played the back nine holes for free!! Got my handicap to a respectable figure and gave up at age 18 when the *rulers* of the course decided I should pay for the pleasure!! I will return to golf in my old age!!

My dad was a pilot, flew for the RAF in WW11 and fought in the Battle of Britain. He died in Sept 1994 and was a wonderful influence in my life. I miss him desperately, but I know he flies with me and enjoys it, and raises the odd glass of Chivas to me!! He loved his Hurricanes and Mosquitos and told me about them. So my pocket money as a child-----about 8yrs old----was spent on those model aircraft one had to figure out how to glue together, then paint in the
right colours and stick on the decals. I bought the Hurricane and Mosquito and a few others including a Mustang, because I loved horses and thought it had a *cool* name. Where I should have had dolls displayed on my bedroom shelves, I had these little treasures and wonders of flight.

I was shoved off to boarding school in Cape Town at age 12. Not a happy period of my life except for the holidays. During my teenage years all spare time was spent working for a large practice of veterinary surgeons, a profession I wished to take up, but never managed to, due to finances. But I spent many wonderful hours on farms, in stables and cow sheds and in blazing African sun, up to my armpits in bovine muck assisting with pregnancy tests, AI , difficult calvings, and C sections.

At 16 I had a flight aptitude test. Dad came with me, and the instructor who was doing the test, took one look at him and said "Hey!! You taught me to fly in 1943!!" A truly small world. Well, finances didn’t allow for me to fly least it wasn’t common in SA, and no future for females, in a very male dominated society.

After school I was broke and needed a job, so joined the engineering division of an oil company and started on the drawing board doing their drafting of storage tanks, pipe systems, pumps, manifolds and refuelling lines. During those years, my joy was when we chartered planes to go up to South West Africa, now Namibia. I loved those trips, and flying over the Namib Desert and hopping over incredible red sand dunes in search of herds of gemsbok (a type of oryx), and skimming the waves at a very low altitude looking for whales-----the pilot used to be a whale spotter!! And he very sweetly reintroduced me to joy of taking the controls and flying it myself.
The highlight of one of my trips to Namibia, was being on the very last flight back to Cape Town that the Viscount did, before being removed from service.
The Fish River Canyon----a slightly smaller version of the Grand Canyon--- was in flood for the first time in a decade or so, and the Captain flew us IN the canyon to witness it. It was incredible having the canyon sides above us. Maybe a crazy captain, but I thought it the best thing Id ever done. There were only 5 of us on board and he told us what he wanted to do!!

I met my husband, Ian , round that time, a Scot who had worked as a development engineer on turbine engines for Rolls Royce, and had taken the plunge and ventured south to a better climate.
So my name changed to Wilson and we have 2 daughters, one in NYC and the other with us in Dallas. We were transferred from Cape Town to Durban for 5yrs and then Johannesburg for 5 years and now on assignment in Dallas till mid 1996.
Alas I have to go back. I love America and the people here. Be ready for mid 1996 when I will be putting out adoption papers to stay here-----all offers will be seriously considered!

I have been involved with environmental issues in South Africa, and also the SA Ornithological Society, where I met the most wonderful people and learned a tremendous amount, from some world renown ornithologists, and had the honour of going on field trips and study trips with them. I was active in the archaeological society, and had wonderful times combing mountain ranges for bushman rock art that had never been recorded before, and 'digs' excavating prehistoric bones and extinct beasts. I loved it, it was great fun.

I have an intense interest in astronomy, but unfortunately don’t know enough to even call myself an amateur astronomer---it is such a vast subject---its scary.

Now to my flying. Well, on arriving in Dallas----we stayed near Addison airport, in north Dallas, and I lay at the hotel pool and watched these planes doing their *thing* in the sky and not knowing a single sole in Dallas, decided the time was ripe to fulfil my dream!! I drove off to the airport, walked into a flight school and signed up. My husband had a fit, so I promised him it would only take 40 hrs and besides, it would be a good confidence boost!! Well, it
took a LOT longer than 40 hrs. I found the most patient wonderful instructor,
James Reid, who had to endure many painful moments. He encouraged me, and assured me that I would achieve what I desired more than anything else in the world. In between those agonizing moments he had, we had a lot of laughs and I can only say that I owe a lot to James for sticking with me through this.

I would love to get my IFR and Commercial rating---it’s a dream. Maybe it will come to reality.

My regrets?----that I didn’t have the opportunity 25 yrs ago to do this . I feel I’ve wasted 25 precious years, of witnessing exquisite sunsets and moon rises from above ground level.. The young jocks aspire to flying the fast powerful stuff-------my preference would be the old and slow stuff.!.I am partial to things like Constellations, the Waco is kinda cute, and the DC3---that lovely Dakota -----brings me out in the shivers when I hear it and see it taxiing by with the pilots arm hanging out the open window . I guess I like the *thunder guts,* spewing oil, clouds of smoke and burst of flame as the engines roar to life. Guess that is like music to me. Silly? well maybe!! If I was two decades younger I think Id like to fly cargo in a bush situation in a *dak* or something smaller but as heavy and noisy, and messy.

Now we get to AVSIG. I bought this computer wonder in October 1994, as it was time to get computer literate. My terror of touching the machine was intense. I thought it would electrocute me and the mouse would bite. I didn’t even know how to turn it on. So, to my rescue, came my flying instructer,James. An expert at *flying* a computer as well. He painstakingly taught me how to use it, from how to switch it on, he loaded it with wonderments, and he told me about Compuserve, and explained what AVSIG was. He showed me how to access AVSIG,he signed me up and explained what a password was. He has been an AVSIG lurker for ages. I thank him for the introduction because through AVSIG I have *met* the most wonderful people, I think I can now call good friends. They have been encouraging through my flight training, sympathetic and kind and supportive when my dad died. I have had some wonderful laughs and good banter and chat.
When I’ve been sad and miserable there has always been someone out there for me to talk to and support me and make me laugh. I have been overwhelmed by kindness and friendship. Always someone who understands my euphoria with flight and doesn’t think I’m crazy or whacky---mainly because they are equally crazy and whacky I guess.

AVSIG has been the most wonderful addition to my life, it’s brought me a lot of joy and happiness, for which I thank each and every one of you. I certainly hope I can live up to this honour, which you have bestowed on me. Thanks all.


--Penny