By Sean O’Flaherty
Early in the morning on May 30th a small group of cadets from TSG Troop 31, consisting of five senior cadets, one junior cadet, and two leaders, traveled to Gainesville, Texas for a special experience. The cadets and their leaders had been invited by Captain Denison for a ride in his small Cessna 172 airplane. Taking two cadets at a time, Captain Denison took off and showed the cadets the brilliant panorama below. Once Captain Denison reached a safe flying altitude and distance in the air, he let each cadet grab the flight controls and fly the airplane. The cadets flew the small airplane well, performing maneuvers taught by Captain Denison and helping land the airplane.
While Captain Denison was up in the air with some of the cadets in his small airplane, another pilot First Officer Jones flew in from south Ft. Worth and showed the other cadets his classic aircraft the North American Aviation T-28 Trojan. The plane was a restored Air Force T-28 trainer cirqa 1950s, painted as a Navy trainer plane that he had helped restore with his father. The pilot even let the boys climb up and jump into the cockpit for a bit. After all the cadets and one of the leaders had flown in Captain Denison’s airplane, they thanked him for the experience and left the airfield to go back home.
