People flock to see, ride ‘Tin Goose’
Andrew Baugh
Pilot Cody Welch (left) and co-pilot Joe Young taxi in a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor airplane at the Joseph A. Hardy/Connellsville Airport.
Andrew Baugh
A 1929 Ford Tri-Motor plane sits outside a hangar at the Joseph A. Hardy/ Connellsville Airport.
Pilot Cody Welch stands in front of the 1929 Ford Tri-Motor airplane. The vintage airplane is at the Joseph A. Hardy/Connellsville Airport.
The cockpit of a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor airplane
Andrew Baugh
The interior of a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor airplane is shown.
DUNBAR TWP. — Automobiles below look like toy cars. Trees resemble blades of glass. The Fayette Building and Uniontown Hospital suddenly appear to be pieces of a play set.
What you see is Fayette County in miniature and what you hear is the buzz of three engines and two propellers just a few feet away. What you’re sitting in is a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor, the world’s first mass-produced airliner.
Dozens of airplane aficionados and fans of flight get one last chance to enjoy the experience from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the Joseph A. Hardy/Connellsville Airport, where the Kalamazoo Air Zoo and Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) brought the 84-year-old “Tin Goose” 5-AT Tri-Motor for 15-minute family friendly rides as part of a national tour.
The cost of a flight is $75 for adults and $50 for children ages 17 and younger. Anyone with a Buy Local card will receive a $5 discount on the cost of the flight at the gate or by downloading a coupon at www.buylocalfayette.org.
The “Tin Goose” brought a lot of history along for the ride as one of 199 Ford Tri-Motors produced from 1926-1930 and just one of three still operating today. The plane helped pioneer coast-to-coast travel, was used to carry freight for what became Wien Alaskan Airlines and dropped smoke-jumpers on forest fires. Later, the plane was featured in barnstorming tours, on the Arthur Godfrey Show and in Jerry Lewis’ 1965 movie “Family Jewels.”
In 1973, the plane was damaged in a windstorm and subsequently purchased by the EAA. The new Tri-Motor flew again in 1991 after several years of work and was featured in another movie, “Public Enemies,” starring Johnny Depp, in 1999.
“We’ve come a long way but this is the granddaddy of all the airliners, Ford Tri-Motors tour captain Cody Welch said Thursday. Welch, a native of Linden, Mich., piloted the plane at the Hardy/Connellsville Airport and has flown the “Tin Goose” for 21 years. “This is the one that started everything.”
“It’s not all about 747s and fighter jets. This (plane] started it,” Hardy/ Connellsville Airport manager John “Bud” Neckerauer said. “Any time you show aviation like this, you’ll spark interest. Maybe now you might get 10 people who want to take (flying) lessons.”
The first and only flight on Thursday was delayed because of minor idle issues and a direct crosswind, but a crowd of roughly two dozen showed up in the afternoon, enjoying the “Tin Goose” for various reasons.
Scott Campbell came from Grindstone to see the plane because his cousin, Alan Wright, who lives in Kalamazoo, Mich., has been volunteering with the Air Zoo for more than 20 years and had flown the “Tin Goose.”
“When I found out it was coming to Connellsville, I gave (Alan) a call and he said, ‘Oh, you have to go for a ride. It’s just tremendous,'” Campbell said. “He said there are three numbers you have to remember with this airplane: 65, 75, 85. He said you take off at 65, it flies at 75, and it lands at 85 (mph).”
“I think it was wonderful,” Ralph Hickle of Flatwoods said. “You think about how many hands have tried to keep this plane flying, and all the money it takes to keep this plane flying, those radio engines, they’re getting rare.”
And the “Tin Goose” shows no signs of slowing down.
“It’s in better shape than any of us biological entities,” Welch said. “The engines are in ready supply. We can manufacture all the parts.”
The Fayette County tour stop had several sponsors, including Ford Business Machines and the Fayette County Airport Authority. The event also sponsored and facilitated by EAA Chapter 45 in Rostraver Township.
The EAA has 176,000 aviation enthusiasts in 100 countries.
“Connellsville has a very wide runway, 100 feet wide, which is absolutely wonderful for these guys to fly on,” said Ken McClelland, EAA Chapter 45 vice president. “Brand-new terminal here; beautiful place to host it.”
Neckerauer expressed interest in having the Tri-Motor return, and everyone who rode “The Tin Goose” said they were happy they did.
“Everybody who flies in the airplane has a smile,” Welch said. “If you think about it, is there anything you can do in life that is guaranteed to make somebody smile? When I was an airline pilot, they didn’t all smile. Someone didn’t like it when you made a (public address) while they were trying to sleep. This airplane, taking people back in time, is a guaranteed smile creator, and I’ve never had someone who wasn’t smiling when I got off.”
“I went uphill!” 4-year-old Ethan Albright of Connellsville said with a smile after getting to view his hometown below with his mother, Sharon. Ethan then said he would like to ride the plane again.
And the middle-aged and elderly who rode the Tri-Motor all shared in young Ethan’s feeling above it all, getting to see their communities in miniature and appreciate the ageless innovation carrying them through the sky.