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Launching William Shatner

Sept 6, 2002

The December UltraFlight magazine had a more complete story with pictures of the flight. Late August, 2002 the call came in: William Shatner was looking for help getting a PPG flight into a charity event that he would be the main draw. He'd gotten minimal training so was an interesting proposition. Nick Scholtes agreed to help me with the task. 

Mr. Shatner was completely up front and honest about his skills and expectations. He explained it had been a while since he'd flown, that he only had 12 flights and that few of those wound up on his feet. But that is why he contacted us in the first place. 


Jeff Goin and Ed Mondek get ready to pull for the assist. Photo is an excerpt from footage 
shot by Phil Russman who came in from LA to help with camera work.

On Saturday morning the winds were fickle. Nick flew over to where we were setting up to get us to move further from a neighbor with horses. He landed into a steady 6 mph breeze and then I launched Mr. Shatners gear to test the air and reposition it (beats carrying!).  By the time I landed in the new location, the winds had switched 180 degrees...Nick couldn't get airborne with the now-tailwind.

When Bill Shatner arrived we were considering abandoning the effort but time allowed one try and he was willing. At the third location in the hay field the wind finally cooperated and picked up to 3 mph out of the NE. 

With Nick on the radio, we tugged, the wing came up straight and he throttled up. The RDM kicked in forcefully and he bound into the air. A slight swing to the left barely missed our cameraman who dove out of the way. 

He listened well to instructions and handled the flying well...we enjoyed a peaceful 35 minute flight over to the park.

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