Debrief: Richard Graham

STARTED IN AVIATION…Dad taught me how to fly when I was a teenager. He was a Navy F4U Corsair pilot and had his instructor’s rating. He had a friend who had a Seabee. I remember as a kid going to Lake Erie and landing in the water. I told my dad I wanted to learn to fly and would pay for the plane. I worked at a local airport cutting grass, waxing airplanes, and general work.

TRAINING…Like all students, the main challenge is to learn to control the airplane smoothly and accurately in all three axes. I didn’t have much of a problem due to watching my dad fly, and it rubbed off on me.

OBSTACLES…Navigation. Back then we used ADF, and it is squirrely and not very accurate. We were just getting VORs. It seemed like magic.

FAVORITE AIRPLANE…Obviously it is the SR–71 Blackbird. It is very much a mental airplane. You are 50-percent pilot and 50-percent systems engineer. Second to that was the F–4 I flew in Vietnam. The F–4 Wild Weasel was used to track down SAM [surface to air missile] sites before and after a bombing attack. We were first in and last out. I was attacked by missiles 10 or 15 times but never had to bail out. I was hit by shrapnel once. You wait until the missile looks the size of a telephone pole and then pull into it and wait. It can’t react fast enough.

AIRPLANE OWNERSHIP…I have never owned one. I enjoy instructing, and that’s good enough for me. I can fly any of the airplanes in the two clubs where I instruct.

ADVICE FOR STUDENTS…Stay the course. Too many get discouraged for one reason or another. If you can get through all the hurdles and get that ticket, it can open up the whole world to you. You are different from people who are stuck to the ground.