Father & Son

Well, my Dad could never fulfill his desire to pilot his own aircraft since he was unable to pass a medical. It was a major disappointment to him, in his life, although that generation never showed it. He had instilled the desire to fly in me, though, and I got my license when I was 26. We flew a lot together and as luck would have it, we bonded over flying. Nothing else brought us together like flying. You know how it can be with Fathers and Sons. Over a few years, I had taught him to fly and he was very good at it. So on most of our flights, I'd pretty much let him be sole manipulator of the controls (and Yes Virginia, we had a simple "I"ve got it" agreement and he would let go of everything and I would be sole manipulator of the controls). He was like a kid at Christmas time flying, a dream come true. I remember one day that I would like to share. We were flying from Manchester NH to Cape Cod. Over Cape Cod Bay, we saw what looked like a barge with holes in it. My Dad claimed it was target practice for the Air National Guard, which was stationed nearby. He got on the intercom and said to me "Boston Center, we have spotted an enemy aircraft carrier in Cape Cod Bay. We request permission to strafe the carrier." What my Dad didn't realize is that he accidently pushed the "transmit" button. Well, I thought air traffic control would take my license since we were on a frequency with all the airline traffic into Logan Airport. But he came back on the radio and said "Cessna, you are cleared to strafe the carrier, be careful and good luck. Report back on frequency". Well he dove the plane and we strafed that enemy carrier successfully, climbed back to altitude and started to head home. Well, my Dad was not through so he called back air traffic control, "Mission Accomplished, enemy carrier was sunk". And all we got back on the radio from air traffic control and a couple of airlines was "Bravo!".