Read Online Flight of Passage: A True Story by Rinker Buck - Free Book Online

in with the Texans and threw open their canopies in front of the stands, the show announcers called them Big Eddie and Peg-Leg Buck. Both of us hero-worshiped Eddie and were impressed that my father could fly with him like that, but it wasn’t as big a deal for me. It was the sort of crazyass thing that I expected my father to do. But Kern couldn’t get over it. He was awed by them both.
    Kern looked up from the flames.
    “Rink, you’re gonna laugh at me for this, but I’m going to say it.”
    “Kern, I won’t laugh.”
    “Bull, but I want you to know this. Look, I don’t want to be this scrawny little teenager nobody ever heard of, okay? I want to be like Big Eddie Mahler. Flying across the country is the most exciting thing we can do with our lives right now. People will notice. It’ll be a great thing for aviation. Even guys like Big Eddie will have to respect us. Rink, I want to be known , okay? And, you know, I wake up in the morning and remember this trip, and I say to myself, 'Jeez, who the hell came up with this crazy idea?’ I mean, I’m afraid of it, Rink, really afraid sometimes, but we have to do it. The only thing I could come up with, the only thing I could think of, was flying coast to coast in the Cub.”

The great Eddie Mahler (left) was a legend on the airshow circuit, and we hero-worshipped him as boys.
    This was a moment, I suspected, when my personality could be fatal for my brother. I tried to get the right words out.
    “Kern, I can understand that. I mean, I actually do. But don’t call yourself scrawny, okay?”
    “But I am scrawny.”
    “Fuck that Kern. We’re both scrawny.”
    “But Rink, that’s the point! It’s easy for you. You’re an athlete. You’re popular at school. Even when you mooned that old lady everybody loved you for it. All I’ve got is aviation, and I just want to do this one thing really well. Just one thing Rink. One thing! I need you for this. Just help me fly the Cub to California.”
    Jesus. I felt I could cry about this. To Kern, everything I did well qualified me as an awful brother. What was I supposed to do? Throw on a pair of dork shorts and play with Louie? Turn myself into an athletic spaz? I wasn’t miserable because Kern blamed me for my success. I was miserable because I couldn’t understand why he just didn’t ignore me.
    “Ah shit Kern . . . okay. It’s fine. I don’t want to fight about this. But there’s still one thing I don’t understand.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Look,” I said. “What do you need me for? If I were in your shoes, I’d make this flight alone. You know, screw the younger brother, just leave his ass at home. Then you get to California and you can hog all the credit for yourself.”
    “Rink, no. You’ve got to understand this part. It’s important. I can’t make this trip alone. Jeez, think about it. We’ll hit weather. We’ve got mountains to cross. And the deserts—I think there’s eight hundred miles of deserts between here and L.A. It’ll be a full-time job for me just handling the plane. We’re going to need positive contact with the ground at all times, a navigator, Rink. We can’t get lost. I can’t do both of those jobs at once.”
    Most of what he was saying was true, but I wouldn’t appreciate it until we got out there. Part of my problem was that I was less experienced at flying, and I didn’t understand everything that went into it. My brother had always made it look easy, and I took a lot for granted. But mostly I was stalled by my congenital personality clash with Kern. Everything he said and did burned with earnestness and conviction. It was like atmospheric static out there, cluttering up a radio signal. Now that there was really something to be earnest about, I couldn’t hear it.
    But I really didn’t want to fight with Kern anymore. I felt awful because he always seemed to be jealous of me. I would have to make the effort.
    “All right Kern. I’m going to do this thing for you.