Flying guest finds hospitality in Fairfield

To the editor:

Harry Freshwater, 19-year-old pilot from Perth, Australia, landed his rented Cessna 172 at Fairfield Municipal Airport Sunday evening for an overnight stop on a trip around the country. The sight of a lone teenager unloading his pack and sleeping bag from an airplane on the ramp at Fairfield did raise a few questions:

Why is a 19 year old flying around the country?

?Well, I need to fly 75 hours as pilot-in-command to qualify for my commercial certificate in Australia. It?s much cheaper to fly here in the states than it is in Australia, even after paying the airfare here and back.?

What made him stop in Fairfield?

?I fly until I?m about to go off the sectional chart for the area I?m in, then I land for fuel and buy a new chart for the next section. Fairfield happened to be in the right place.?

What?s the sleeping bag for?

?Silly question. Sleeping.?

Harry sleeps in his plane and uses airport courtesy cars to go into town for food, hopping around the country to build up flying time.

How long will he be doing this?

?I?ll go until I have the 75 hours I need, then head back to Florida, then home to Australia. It should take about 24 days.?

His trip began in West Palm Beach, Florida at the beginning of May, where he rented his plane from an aircraft mechanic. From there he flew up the east coast to New York, with a stop in Washington, D.C. to see the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Heading west, he plans to fly over the Rockies and Sierra Nevada Mountains to San Francisco, then back to Florida, via the Grand Canyon, of course. His return ticket to Australia is for the 24th of May.

As for spending the night sleeping in his plane, he didn?t have to do that here. We brought him home, threw some shrimp on the barbie (well ... some salmon burgers on the stove), had a cold one and he told us about his trip.

One last question, ?I imagine folks invite you in to their homes a lot along the way when they hear your story.?

?No, Fairfield is the first time this has happened,? he replied.

It looks like Fairfield did happen to be the right place.

? Jim Masterson, Fairfield