O
ld style leather flying helmet
over my hair, goggles on my
head, and scarf wrapped
around my neck; I’m ready
to take flight, feeling like
Amelia Earhart and those 1920’s
barnstormers. Pilot Dave Genet at
the St. Augustine Regional Airport
instructs me about the biplane and
flight plan before explaining how to
enter the open-air cockpit, “Step in
backwards with the first leg and then
slowly turn around as you lift the
second leg.” Not my most elegant
move, but I manage to nudge myself
(with my thighs squished against my
companion) in a compartment barely
big enough for two.
We both anxiously await the miracle
of take off in a 1935 “Model” WACO
YMF-5C biplane. The aeroplane, built
in 2011, was hand crafted and
designed to look and fly like the
original. This beauty is the world’s
only currently produced luxury 1935
Model FAA Certified Biplane, and Dave
proudly shows it off.
Plans call for a circuitous flight over
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