AirVenture | Day 5

July 22 | Jim Markel made me cry today. Jim’s not a mean guy, and he wouldn’t do that on purpose for the world, but when he started to have trouble talking, and when his eyes started getting red, and when he started grimacing to keep from crying himself, I just couldn’t help myself.

He was telling us about how so many people had helped him finish his Pietenpol and how grateful he was to know people like that.

He told us about coming to Brodhead in 2002 with the first six ribs he had built and shown them to anyone who would look and listen to his enthusiastic account of starting to build his own airplane. His audience knew how he felt because they had done the same thing while building their own Pietenpol. I can say with certainty that they all smiled and offered their encouragement and advice, and listened to him talk with patience and pleasure.

He talked about being at a place in his life when he didn’t have the resources to finish his airplane and reluctantly decided that he would have to sell it. Luckily for him, he had been corresponding with other Pietenpol builders and owners on an Internet Pietenpol forum, because some of them hatched a plan.

What a lovely plan it was. One of the members contacted Jim and told him that the Pietenpol group had collected enough money from the members to buy his airplane. The only stipulation was that Jim would have to finish and fly it himself for everyone else.

With that, Jim had the money he needed to finish what would be known as “The Peoples’ Piet”.

Jim finished building the Piet, put on a Continental A-65 engine, and proceeded to do just what he was obligated by honor to do; fly the wings off that Pietenpol. He said he visited every airport he could reach from his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, including to fly-ins in Texas and wherever he could find them.

Jim’s flying was all in preparation for bringing the Peoples’ Piet to Brodhead for the first time for the Pietenpol fly-in the weekend before Oshkosh. All was going well when a month before the July fly-in he had an engine problem. Jim, being the optimist he is, thought he could rebuild the engine in a month, put it back on the airplane, test fly it and then make the journey from Tulsa to Wisconsin.

Fortunately, again, the Pietenpol community who had been following him while he posted his joyous flying videos on You Tube also knew that doing all that was probably not going to be possible. Jim was contacted by a pilot up north (I forget which state) who said that if Jim was willing to make the drive to pick it up then he could use the airworthy A-65 engine that the man had until his was finished.

Jim made the drive, got the engine on the Peoples’ Piet, and made it to Brodhead for the first time flying in his own Pietenpol. As he flew over the field, he pulled the throttle back and hollered joyously to the people on the ground. His wife was in the front cockpit, but since she was married to Jim, she probably wasn’t too surprised or worried.

Jim landed, taxied in, jumped out and started giving out bear hugs. Jim is a solid guy, so when he hugs you stay hugged. Then he helped his wife out of the front seat.

So, when Jim got to the point in his story of a total stranger contacting him from out of the blue and offering him the use of a valuable engine, no signed contract, no proof of identity, he stared tearing up and I started tearing up and I choked so that I couldn’t speak, I did the only thing I could. I gave him a big hug. My ribs still ache.