'Lo all!

On the 10th anniversary of my Grandfather's passing; I was reflecting about how much he changed my life; at least from an aviation perspective.

I'll talk about it in a sec; but briefly, I was thinking about how we as students learn from our seniors. Often - for the lucky ones at least - there are those seniors who give us lessons we don't learn in the regular course of flight instruction. These older, wiser folks - our mentors - give us something of great value; lessons which we might not even realize until years later.

If you've had this experience; who was your mentor and what did he/she teach you? What lessons did you learn from him?

I'll start, of course:

Let's say this straight out: I haven't got many pleasant memories about Harold Norman Organ.
To be blunt; he wasn't much of a Grandfather; surly, rough, sarcastic, unloving. Wasn't; I've since learned, any great shakes as a bush pilot either;  he was a highly competent pilot but a miserable instructor - didn't have any patience at all with students - and passengers rarely gave him high marks either. I've since learned his navigation wasn't exactly what you'd call brilliant - he didn't have the patience for the math; he was very much an 'it's that-a-way' type of pilot.
(This was back in the '50's; BTW.)

Let's face it - his personality sucked rocks. 



Still; while he wasn't exactly Mr. Rogers; I count him as one of the most important influences on my life in aviation - both in my personal flying ability and the fact I never made the attempt to go commercial. IOW; he was both a positive influence and a negative one there.

But for now; I just want to deal with the positive.
He was a wizard in weather; and on floats. He had a real 'feel' for flying; and had quite a list of stories of short field flying experiences I've on occasion been able to confirm.
I like to think I inherited something of that 'feel' from him.
I remember back in '83 when I had my first flying lesson. I was just a kid of course; I didn't do much more than hold the stick going 'Ooooooo!' but I was nevertheless terribly excited about the whole thing: my journey to becoming a spaceman had begun!
Well; I was so happy I blabbed all about it next time we went up to his cottage (now mine) on the Kawarthas - we met there practically every weekend. He listened; nodded; didn't say anything.
Without a word; he got up from his rocking chair and stumped into his bedroom.
I was shocked - I couldn't imagine what I'd said wrong!
A few minutes later, he came back with an old brass thing I'd seen on the rare occasions I was allowed into the bedroom and put it on the table in front of me.
It was a sextant.
"You going to be a pilot, or are you just going to give it up like other kids?" he asked me point-blank.
"No, I'm going to do it!" I insisted; "I'm going to be a fighter pilot!"
"Then use this," he said. "Kids don't know how anymore. It's yours." He settled back into his chair and said, "All that electric crap's OK I guess, but you wanna fly up here; you gotta know how to get by without it. It conks out you need a way to get back home without it - and that way's right here!" and he whacked me on the head. "Don't use that damned VOR stuff, use a map. Don't use a damned calculator, learn the sums. Get a slide-rule and learn that too - kids can't use them either. Use your head, right? You always come back that way."

That's a great story Staiduk. My mentor was a man I respected from when I first met him. He was only a small man, less than 5 foot tall, & I towered over him but to me he was a giant. That man was Cecil Pashley, one of the British pioneer aviators & at the time I knew him the most experienced flying instructor in the world. He was self-taught & teaching others to fly in 1910, in an aircraft he built with his brother who was killed in WWI. Some of those early pupils went on to be more famous with the general public than he ever was. Although he did many other jobs including a "crazy pilot" in the 1930s he made his name instructing. There used to be a saying "Pash-taught & you can fly anything". He taught service pilots in both world wars & was instructing well into his 70s when I knew him.

I had the honour of working for this man for 2 years when I first started in the aircraft industry in 1960. He taught me a lot, not only about flying but as a role model. You might say he was my hero & my inspiration. I still have a great deal of respect for him although he died 30 years ago. They don't make 'em like that any more.

I've searched but there's very little information on this wonderful man. (The fact that the perimeter road at Shoreham Airport is named Cecil Pashley Way doesn't help.) There was talk of a biography some years ago but I can't find any information on it. My one regret is that I did nothing about this myself. His widow died only last year (at the age of 103 I believe) so it's unfortunately too late now. This is one of the very few references I can find.
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Here's a small photo of Cecil & his brother Eric in the aircraft they built. They used to give pleasure flights in this from Worthing beach long before WWI.


PS. I just found this photo of my mentor in his younger days. It's not dated but I think it must have been taken before WWI. A copy of it hangs in the terminal building at Shoreham.

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I was born lucky. They say it's better to be lucky than rich.

I was the oily rag, what they call a hangar rat these days. Pash (or Sir as I always called him) was proprietor & chief flying instructor of the Southern Aero Club at Shoreham. As a callow youth of 17 I was responsible for the daily maintenance, refuelling, swinging props, strapping in pupils, teaching basic navigation & any other odd job I was told to do. I taxied the club aircraft (we had 3 Tiger Moths & a Beagle Terrier) about a mile from the hangar to the clubhouse & back again every working day for something like 2 years so I reckon to know a bit about taildraggers. I worked from 9 am till dusk 6 days a week including weekends & bank holidays so never saw much of my friends. The wages were pitifully low but I knew they couldn't afford to pay me more. I had flying lessons from the Man himself to make up for it. Unfortunately I had to make a decision. Either stay where I was & get my instructors ticket or concentrate on engineering. The engineering won.

I have many fond memories of my time at the club & might post a few here later. The ones I most treasure were on winter mornings when I went over to light the fire in the clubhouse. This was another of my many jobs. Mr Pashley would make us both a cup of coffee & once the fire was blazing we would sit down & he would reminisce about the old days. He told me a lot of things I've never seen in print & I only have my memory to back them up. One thing always surprised me. He told me he really wanted to be an engine driver. The main railway line runs right along the south boundary of the airfield & if he heard the steam express go through (we still had steam locos in those days) he would rush outside to watch it with a glazed look in his eye.

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You got that about right, although he was always safety-concious & never took risks. He said what he thought & didn't suffer fools gladly. This didn't make him popular with everyone & I knew some people who hated the sight of him. That was their loss as they never got to know him. He had a wonderful sense of humour & never lost the twinkle in his eye. My type of person. I'm sure you would have liked him too.

mmm....I actuall yhaven't had a 'flight minded" mentor, but I have def. had a positive experience with my late grandfather.  He taught me just about everything there is to know about cars, machining, and life in general...

Specifically he taught me many quirks and idiosyncrosies associated with both of his old cars which now that he is no longer with us, me and my dad have to maintain...



Funny how he never mentioned why there were clothespins clamped all over the fuel line...

(Later found that it is there to prevent vapor lock...)