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FS: So, over the years, what are your most memorable flying moments?
MARTHA: For me, the most wonderful memory is when I did my first solo across country.
I was up to then quite a timid pilot. I was learning to fly with grim determination because John had a passion for it and I wasn't going to be left behind. But it was something that I was doing doggedly rather than with joy and enthusiasm, and I went off on this cross-country. It wasn't very far, all the way from Indianapolis to Richmond, Indiana, which is just on the eastern side of the state, at that. But I took off in the afternoon and there were rain showers, and being the timid pilot I was, I did huge detours around the rain showers. When I got to Richmond, I had a little bit to eat, and unwound and relaxed and then got in the plane and took off for Indianapolis and home. It was getting dark, so the city lights came on, and it was so beautiful. Indianapolis looked like someone had just spilled jewels out across a black velvet cloth. It just sparkled and shone, and you could see the streets so beautifully. You could navigate really much better than in the daytime, and it was so smooth and peaceful. The flight was in our own airplane so I was really familiar with it, and it had all the lights on and the landing lights on. I made one of the best landings I've ever made in my life. I shut down the airplane and got out on the wing and said to John and our instructor, “That was beautiful!” And I've spent a lot of money ever since!
FS: Oh, that sounds wonderful.
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JOHN: My most exciting memory on an aircraft is like most pilots, my first solo. I can remember that I was only 16 years old and feeling for the seat to make sure the instructor really wasn't there. And I just couldn't believe the excitement I was having of flying the airplane on my own. I could go anywhere I wanted and do anything I want. What I really did, of course, was those three takeoffs and landings in the pattern. But I was in control of it, and it was just wonderful.
FS: That's great. That was also in Indiana, right John?
JOHN: That's right.
Next: Words of Wisdom
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