(Aviation history) A Story Of Unbelievable Persistence

September 26th, 2008 admin Posted in aviation |

By Saleem Rana

Dick and Jay sat on the ground outside the shed. The rain pelted down on them. They stared in disbelief at the lake of mud all around them. The Piper Cub slumped in the mud a few feet in front of them. Neither a wet bird nor muddy squirrel could be seen.

“It’s going to be like this for some time,” said Jay, gloomily, “according to the weather report.”

Dick feebly told the joke about the weatherman who left town because the weather didn’t agree with him–but neither of them laughed. The rain fell without remorse.

“Boy, boys, boys,” said a beautiful woman with auburn hair. She had a fresh complexion. She wore a wet, slightly muddy, mauve dress. She sat down between them, covering them with her pink umbrella.

Dick kissed his wife on the cheek. He reached down into the vanilla box for his sandwich. The box tumbled out of his hands and landed in a puddle. It floated.

“That’s it,” shouted Jay. He grabbed Dick’s elbow. “Don’t you see- that’s it!”

It only took a day to add the inflated pontoon boats to the Piper Cub. Now instead of wheels, it had floats. Now, instead of the muddy runway, they used the river.

But another calamity awaited: a lightning storm. A bolt of lightning struck the hut, shattering it.

Without an office, it was hard to run operations.

Dick, however, found a solution. He bought a chicken coop from the farmer down the road for $25.

“One last yard,” said Dick, talking to the old mare. The mare grunted as it dragged along the chicken coop.

After propping up the chicken coop, Dick began whitewashing it.

“There,” said Dick, slapping on the last coat.

He stepped back to join his wife, Doreen, and his partner, Jay. All of them admired the bright chicken coop. It proudly bore the blue legend “Wolverine Air Service.”

“Soon,” said Dick, “Millions will be flying their own planes. They’ll come to us and we’ll teach them.”

“And it only cost us $200 to get this Piper Cub,” added Jay.

“Airplanes will swarm the air, the way cars do the ground,” predicted Dick.

Just then a freckled-faced young man came up to them.

“Is this your school?” he asked, squinting at Dick.

“Have you come for lessons?” asked Dick.

“Darn right!”

“We’d love to teach you, but we don’t know how to fly!” confessed Dick.

A few days later, however, they found a flight instructor. Dick straightened out the sheaf of papers on his ramshackle desk as the last interviewee walked out of the shack. He looked over at Jay. “Well?” Jay nodded. “I like him.”

“Then we have a new flight instructor,” said Dick, smiling broadly.

The next day, Dick and the new flight instructor stood outside the chicken coop office.

“How are you going to pay me?” asked the flight instructor, a tall man with thick dark hair and brilliant blue eyes.

“Cash,” said Dick, unruffled.

“But you said a moment ago that you don’t have any money?”

“I don’t,” confirmed Dick, “but they do.”

The flight instructor turned around to follow Dick’s finger. He had to chuckle. On the edge of the field was Jay whooping in a group of three eager students, all trussed up in flight gear. They were wet to their thighs from wading across the river.

“They’ll be the first to graduate,” affirmed Bob, the new flight instructor.

This is the story of Richard M. DeVos and his high-school buddy, Jay Van Andel, who came home after the Second World War convinced that the aviation business would be the trend of the future.

The Success Principle

The only limits are those that you set up for yourself. Limited thoughts create limited people.

Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life

Copyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this

article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or

newsletter. It’s a shareware article.

Learning From Aviation Disasters
By Catherine Harvey

Air travel has become an everyday occurrence and air travel is rarely thought of as a risk. That said, latest figures suggest that, on average, one thousand people per year die worldwide through aviation disasters. Add to this the one and a half thousand people that die in light aircraft, business jets and helicopters and the risk is propelled into the arena a little more forcefully. Of course, this does have to be balanced in some proportion to the fact that hundreds of flights with thousands of passengers take place every single day of the year.

Although just about everyone travelling with an airline will have taken out some sort of insurance, in the event of an accident or incident, they or their families are still entitled to claim compensation also. In nearly all cases the compensation secured will amount to considerably more than the insurance pay out, particularly if it is secured by a specialist aviation lawyer that has in depth knowledge of the international laws surrounding air disasters.

General injury lawyers can, in no way, possess the ability to deal with such complex issues such as air disasters. There is an international framework of laws specific to aviation accidents and they become very complex when you consider how many aspects there are to deal with from piloting to navigation from maintenance to manufacturing and design.

When an accident or major incidence occurs in the UK, the Air Accident Investigation Branch, who are part of the Department of Transport, will investigate in order to determine exactly what happened. This is not for the purpose of apportioning blame but to ensure that safety is improved upon to prevent repeat occurrences. The AAIB have the power to make safety recommendations as they see fit and adhering to this is bound to carry insurance implications for future flights.

Aviation insurance is a multifaceted business and totally different to every other type of insurance. Most aviation insurance is held with insurers in London and large aircraft manufacturers will take out around $2 billion cover to insure against each accident. These insurers will appoint specialist aviation defence lawyers to represent their clients and protect their income.

That said, how could your average injury lawyer possible take on companies that have the latest inside knowledge on aviation laws as well as foreign laws? How could they possibly have the right contacts to deal with air disasters and to secure the best compensation for their victims and their families when up against this sort of knowledge?

That is why the best plan for compensation claims from air disasters is an aviation lawyer. These lawyers are adept and dealing with these types of cases only and therefore can apply everything they know to the case in question. Aviation lawyers will often be instructed to act on behalf of all the passengers and passenger’s families that are affected by an individual plane crash.

A single individual barely stands a chance of gaining compensation from the global companies involved in aviation without the assistance of an aviation lawyer. There are often language barriers to overcome as well as understanding foreign laws if the accident occurred overseas and also the understanding of the way aviation insurance, insurers and their lawyers operate.

With an aviation lawyer the case will still be complex and often drawn out but the end result will be that something positive came out of something terrible. Compensation will have been gained for those entitled and measures will be put in place to prevent a repeat of the accident.

Legal expert Catherine Harvey looks at how aviation disasters require specialist aviation lawyers to extract compensation from those responsible.

Your Source For Information On Aviation