First flight comes at 100

First flight comes at 100

Local businessman makes Vera Samuelson's dream of flying in a small plane come true

Mike Chouinard, The Times

Published: Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Wright Brothers had only made their historic flight in Kitty Hawk, N.C. a few years before centenarian Vera Samuelson was born.

And yet somehow, despite riding in large jets, the Chilliwack resident has never been in a small plane in her 100 years. That changed Monday morning. Inside the Chilliwack Airport, she was getting ready to take her first-ever ride in a small plane in order to have a look at Vancouver and the surrounding area where she lived for years.

"It's something different. Actually I do enjoy it in a plane," she said.

One-hundred years young, Vera Samuelson was thrilled Monday morning to be going on her first-ever ride in a small plane. Despite the grey skies, she was able to get a great birds' eye look at the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.

Darren McDonald/TIMES

Email to a friendPrinter friendly

Font:

• *
• *
• *
• *

Samuelson, who turned 100 in June, came to B.C. from Saskatchewan and lived all over the Lower Mainland.

"The last place was in the West End--the Lost Lagoon--in one of those small apartments," she said. "I haven't been round that way for a long time."

Samuelson and late husband Thomas even lived in Chilliwack for a while during the 1950s but lived in a number of places.

She was happy to be getting a look at some of these on Monday from the birds' eye perspective, as the Piper Cherokee that came to pick her up would take her over downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park.

Crystal Vision One-Hour Optical knows Samuelson as a customer and made the arrangements for the trip.

"They've been promising one for quite a long time. Finally, here it is," she said.

Steve Wiens of Crystal Vision was inspired by her enthusiasm, so he decided to take her up in his plane.

"One-hundred years old and she wants to go for a flight. I think that's fantastic," he said.

Wiens and his brother bought the Cherokee. He is taking lessons but has not had time to get certification, so he was not able to fly Samuelson, himself.

"Originally, when I told her," he said, "I was going to take her."

Instead, he did the next best thing and hired 3 Lines Aviation, who are training him. Wiens said they actually wanted to send her up for her 99th birthday.

"We tried to do it last year. It was a better day," he said.

However, Samuelson was not feeling up for it at the time. This week though, she was in fine spirits.

Pilot Jeff Wittrup of 3 Lines Aviation went through the final check Monday morning with his obviously excited passenger. With a little assistance, she had no problem climbing up on the wing to get into the plane and then politely asked for her purse once she was in, something that brought some chuckles from the well-wishers who had come to see her off into the wild blue--well, grey--yonder. Then she pulled the door closed herself and they were off in short order.

When she returned to the ground about 90 minutes later, she said she had a very good time, though the cloudy weather meant some of the scenery was not always visible. Still, the grey skies did nothing to dampen her spirits. "I really enjoyed it....I liked it all. It was very interesting," she said.

© Chilliwack Times 2007

Blogged with Flock