This is the story of how we lived our dream and brought our Eagle home!
Part 1: The
Dream
Part 2: First Flight
Part 3: Plan "B"
Part 4: First Solo
Part 5: Eagle Update
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Part 1: The Dream
Several
years ago a man went to Oshkosh. He saw the sights and sounds of the event, the planes,
the sales tents and the crowds. The thing that really caught his interest, however,
was the Eagles aerobatic flying team. “Some day,” he said to himself, “I’d like to
own one of those Eagles.”
I suppose many people go to Oshkosh and say similar things, however, in this story
the dream became a reality. First the guy, Owen, for those of you who know him, had
to learn how to fly, which he did. Then he started to fly aerobatics but he still
didn’t have an Eagle. Owen and I met when he started flying aerobatics out of Flying
Cloud Airport (Minneapolis, MN). As we got to know each other it was only natural
that he would share his dream to own an Eagle. Fortunately for us, we both fly and
like planes and wanted to own one someday. We looked around, read Trade-A-Plane,
talked about buying a plane but we weren’t very serious. Planes were expensive, we
heard, and we were both quite happy flying our club Super Decathlon.
 But the Eagle dream was still there. It wouldn’t
go away. In 1994 Jim and Marilyn Barrett flew to our contest in Albert Lea with a
really hot looking Christen Eagle II. It was black with a yellow to red paint job
and it was something else. We talked about that plane constantly, “Wouldn’t that
be a great Eagle to own? Do you suppose we could buy a plane like that someday? How
can we make our dream happen?”
We talked of forming an “Eagle Fund” to save money. I don’t think we ever saved much
money, in fact, I don’t think money had that much to do with deciding to buy a plane.
What mattered more was Jim Barrett showing up at our contest in 1997 with a brand
new Eagle and informing us that his old one was for sale. We pretty much decided
on the spot that we would have to get the plane somehow. This was a situation of
“the right plane is for sale.” From what people tell me, there may be no such thing
as “the right time” to buy a plane and few will ever have “enough money.” When the
right plane comes around, you just make it happen. Of course, it wasn’t as easy as
it sounds.
Continued in...First
Flight
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