Into the sky with beloved Glenis close to his heart
‘I'd do it again... It's just a fantastic feeling'
As Frank Adams was hurtling through the sky at 910km/ h, he thought of his late wife Glenis. He had a photo of her in the breast pocket of his shirt, close to his heart.
They had always talked of their bucket list - the things they had always dreamt of doing - and Frank had said to her that if he won the lottery he would fly in a fighter jet one day.
Glenis lost her battle with cancer in March this year.
That Lotto windfall still hasn’t arrived, so Frank decided to use money the couple had been putting into a holiday fund - topped up by the sale of her e-bike and swing seat - to help realise a dream.
At 78 years old and the recipient of a recent quadruple heart bypass operation, he decided there was no time to lose. He travelled to Tauranga airport in Mount Maunganui and climbed inside a L-39 Albatross fighter jet made for the
Ukraine air force.
He was given a briefing of the flight, fitted with a flying suit, and held on for what he described as “30 minutes of Top Gun aerobatics in the plane”. “Barrel rolls, loops, flying upside down, figure 8 and pulling 4.5 gee. Wow. Wow. Wow. It is not a cheap experience, but one that I can thoroughly recommend,” he said. “I’d do it again tomorrow. It’s just a fantastic feeling.”
The pilot was Craig Mossman, CEO and chief pilot of Fighter Jets NZ, who had recently retired from flying internationally for Air NZ and is currently flying to the Islands and Australia.
“He made me feel comfortable all the way through the flight and told me that I had nailed it,” he said. He purposely had a light breakfast, climbed into the uniform, then into the aeroplane where his seatbelts were fastened and helmet buckled.
Adams said the flight cost $3998, but it was worth every cent ... “an experience I will never forget, and I will always thank my darling wife who travelled with me via a photograph of her taken when she was 53”.
He had always loved aeroplanes. Growing up next to an air force base as a young boy in South Yorkshire meant he developed an interest early on, and he carried that fascination with him today.
When he emigrating to New Zealand in December 1972, he wasted no time in getting in touch with local aeroplane enthusiasts.
“I was fortunate to fly several times in a Cessna and Airtourer planes at the Otaki Aero Club,” he said.
In 1973 he entered a competition run by the Wellington Aero Club, paying $10 to fly with an instructor who guided you on how to fly the plane. Each entrant then had to fly the plane and bank 15 degrees left and right whilst flying level, then complete climbing and descending tasks.
The top 10 entrants were then chosen for a free flight with the winner who was shown with the best
aptitude winning free flying lessons, so he or she was capable of flying solo.
“I didn’t make the top 10 but the experience was fantastic,” he said.
“When I was in my 50s I flew in a Tiger Moth aeroplane at Paraparumu airport flying stunts with a young lady pilot which again was an amazing experience,” he said.
“A young Royal Air Force pilot from the UK bought and flew a Pitt Special in British Racing Green colours at Paraparaumu airport over the summer months. I could not resist the challenge and I was not disappointed as the experience of pulling 3G through the stunts was invigorating.”
More recently Adams had flown in a helicopter over Transmission Gully.
“While holidaying on the Sunshine Coast in Australia I flew in a unique aeroplane which was engine powered and also a glider.
“The pilot allowed me to handle the aeroplane with engine power and also as a glider for a short while as we flew over the coast with sperm whales migrating beneath us in the wild blue seas,” he said.
Frank misses Glenis terribly. But he’s conscious of not spending days on end at home by himself. He’s already starting to save for his next flying mission, in an airliner in a simulator at Ardmore.