Infatuated With Flight

Infatuated with flight!
Mike Wiskus was 8 years old, growing up on his grandpa’s farm. One day he saw a glider fly over the farm, low and slow with no sound. He rand to get his grandpa because he thought it was going to land in the north pasture, a pasture mowed just the day before. Mike ran over to the glider in the field, on e wing up, one down. It was like seeing an angel, the pure white glider sitting there. The pilot was standing beside the glider. He was from Minneapolis. The pilot asked Mike, “Have you ever seen one of these before?” “No sir,” Mike replied. “Then get your butt over here.” Mike was only too happy to comply. The pilot picked Mike up and put him in the cockpit and closed the canopy. Mike knew then that he had to fly. He asked the pilot numerous questions and watched him disassemble the glider, pack it up, and tow it away. Little did the pilot know how he steered Mike’s life when he landed in the field that day.
Mike attended his first air show at age 10. Seeing performances by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds in their F-4s and by Marion Cole in his Pitts, Mike knew he had to fly aerobatics some day.
When Mike was 15 years old, he could have taken over his grandpa’s farm. It was the easy, safe thing to do. But fate would have it otherwise. One day he rode his bike out to the airport and met FBO operator Jerry Dwyer. Mike started bugging Dwyer for a job and hanging out at the airport. “There were always guys ganging out at the restaurant drinking coffee on Saturdays, talking ‘war stories.’” Mike would hang out and absorb all the talk. His persistence paid off. Dwyer finally offered Mike a job. Mike put the money he earned at the FBO on account to use for flying lessons. He continued to work for the family farm and also at the Sirloin Stockade making Texas toast, finally earning enough to start flying lessons.
A number of local pilots appreciated Mike’s enthusiasm and offered him the opportunity to fly their airplanes. One of those men was Dr. “Red” Buttonbaugh who owned a green and white Bonanza. “It was the coolest thing in the world.” And then there was Shirley Pardun who owned a Great Lakes biplane. Pardun took mike on the ride of his life. “My eyeballs were sticking out so far it’s amazing they didn’t hit the prop. I was completely hooked on aerobatics after that ride with Pardun. I’ve had the privilege to fly with so many different pilots with so many different pilots with different styles; guys who had a passion for flying. They took care of me.”
Mike’s dad didn’t know he was taking flying lessons. At age 17 Mike earned his private pilot certificate and took his dad for a ride. “He was blown away.” Mike’s dad bought into a Cessna 172 and went on to get his pilot certificate.
Mike attended Waldorf College and continued to work Jerry Dwyer. He started flying sky divers in a Cessna 182 at Ron Green’s drop zone in Forest City, Iowa. Green was one of the developers of the tandem sky diving rig. By age 21 Mike had accumulated more than 1,100 hours. Mike met a pilot who worked for traveling evangelist Lowe Lindstrom. The pilot was moving on to another job and recruited Mike for the position. Mike flew Lindstrom all over the country in a Mooney 201, averaging 25 days of flying a month. He once flew friends of Lindstrom’s, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.
In 1980 Mike started his first cargo flying job with Air Freight Express in Minneapolis, Minnesota, flying piston Cessna 207s. Air Freight Express bought Blackhawk Airways in Janesville, Wisconsin, and Mike started flying Beech 18s when no one else had jobs. “My buddies were losing their flying jobs, and the controller’s strike was in progress. I felt fortunate to have a flying job.”
In 1989 Hal Rodenberg, owner of Charter Fights Inc. in Minneapolis, called Mike and asked him if he’d like to own a charter company. The company flew Piper Cheyenne IIXLs, Chieftains, Navajos, Aztecs, and Saratogas. Mike became chief pilot, bought into the company, and eventually took over it. Mike later became involved in the management of flight departments for a number of Twin Cities-area companies and continues today with flight management programs.
After the purchase of Charter Flights Inc. Mike finally had some discretionary income, and he decided to pursue his dreams of aerobatic flight. He met Ken Terry and longtime IAC Director Tom Adams at Crystal Airport (MIC). Terry had a Super Decathlon in which Mike started taking aerobatic lessons. Mike went to Oshkosh in 1991, and while there he walked into the IAC Pavilion. He joined IAC and bought a bunch of aerobatic tapes and books to quench his thirst for aerobatic knowledge.
By the time Mike turned 38 in 1996, he realized he hadn’t accomplished what he wanted to do. He bought a 150-hp Citabria 7GCAA and flew if for about two years. In 1997 he bought a tired Pitts S-1C. It hadn’t flown in 15 years, so he rebuilt along with the help of Jerry Sears at Stanton Airfield Airport (SYN). He got five hours of dual in a Pitts S-2A from a friend John Wastvedt and then flew his S-1C. “In 1998 I was on top of the world. I joined IAC Chapter 78 and flew my first contest at Aurora, Illinois, in 1999.” He placed third in Sportsman and was the highest scoring first-time Sportsman at the Aurora contest. He placed third in Sportsman at Fond du Lac later that year.
Along the way Mike learned the capabilities and inabilities of his S-1C. He had read an article on the Pitts S-1-11B by Budd Davisson in Sport Aerobatics and started the hunt for another airplane. Mike thought, “What would it be like to strap into an airplane that weighed only 200 to 300 pounds more than my S-1C with more than twice the horsepower?”
Fellow IAC Chapter 78 member Tom Kerns knew of Mike’s love of the S-1-11B. Kerns called on afternoon in spring 2000 and told Mike there was an S-1-11B for sale on the website eBay. It had been wrecked and was for sale by the insurance company. Kerns wanted the engine for his Pitts project, so he offered Mike the airframe. Kerns placed the winning bid, and they drove to Houston, Texas, Loaded it on a trailer, and drove it home to Minneapolis. Mike started stripping the airframe and sent the wings to the factory for rebuild. One-and-a-half years later into the project Mike flew his S-1C to San Francisco to its new owner to help finance the new engine, a Monte Barrett-build AWAC-legal IO-540. IAC Chapter 78 members helped extensively in the build. Tom Kerns continued to lend his expertise, Mike Niccum and Joe Wakely helped rig the wings, and Brandon McNeilus helped build the engine baffling. Todd Sutton welded the airframe and painted the entire airplane. Mike said Sutton is the Jedi master of aircraft building. “My airplane looks the way it does because of Todd.” Mike was grateful for all of the help. “This airplane would not have been finished without the help of my friends in Chapter 78. That is a fact. And of course, I wouldn’t have done any of it without the love and support of my wife, Tammy and my kids.”
After a two-and-a-half year rebuild the first flight was on July 3, 2002. Mike remembered sitting on the end of the runway for takeoff thinking, “I tore this airplane down to its bare bones. Did I remember everything?” He did and the airplane flew almost hands-off on the first flight, requiring some very minor adjustments afterward.
Mike then logged more than 100 hours of aerobatic practice and flight time in his newly rebuilt Pitts to prepare him for the U.S. National Aerobatic Championships held just two months later in Sherman, flight home to Minnesota with the first place U.S. National Intermediate Champion trophy in hand. “This was just the first step,” said Mike. “My next goal is to make the United States Advanced Aerobatic Team during the 2003 team tryouts, and then I’ll focus on the AWAC in 2004.”
Mike’s airplane was the third and last factory-built S-1-11B. It features full-span ailerons and squared-off tail feathers. Mike describes the roll rate “as a blur.” A wide chord MT 203 prop is bolted to the front of the stout Lycoming. A JTI engine monitor keeps tabs on engine health, and a Garmin 250 XL GPS/comm shows the way to contest sites.
It was a long road from an Iowa farm to being on the verge of world-class competition aerobatics. Mike summed it all up when he said, “I’m having more fun than I had ever imaged!”

Buffalo Fly-In and Breakfast

Go check out the video made of the whole day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AHh-wx6VFA