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thedrifter
08-14-06, 09:01 AM
Local business donates ride of a lifetime
August 14,2006
ANNE CLARK
DAILY NEWS STAFF

Marine Sgt. Jason Tuttle hates rollercoasters — “I don’t like getting to the top, looking straight down” — but that didn’t stop him from boarding an aerobatic stunt plane on Saturday for a half-hour flight into the sunset. Tuttle was picked at random from his squadron to take the free adventure ride, courtesy of local pilot Floyd Brown.

“I’m out to give him a good ride,” said Brown, a 17-year veteran pilot at Delta Airlines and owner of Flying Low Aviation in Jacksonville. “It’s something few will be able to experience.”

As a crew chief for squadron VMMT-204 stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River and with 500 hours flight time, Tuttle is a seasoned pro in the sky.

“I don’t worry in a V-22,” said Tuttle, 26. “It’s triple-redundant and super safe.”

Brown’s aerobatic biplane, a 2005 Christian Eagle II, is a bit smaller than the mighty Osprey; the stunt plane weighs 1,140 pounds and its wings are yellow-and-green-feathered fabric. A simple red string hangs near the cockpit to spatially orient the pilot to the horizon. Brown makes about 15 air show appearances in the plane every year.

Sometimes before flying, Tuttle steadies his nerves with a Dr. Pepper and a jar of hot tamales. In Brown’s plane, the question is whether he’ll need the air sickness bag after thirty minutes of horizontal rotations and spiral spins.

“We’ll start with gentleman’s aerobatics,” said Brown. “Take-it-slow maneuvers. If you’re still comfortable, we’ll do flat spins, but it’s no fun making someone sick.”

Brown has carefully briefed Tuttle on every maneuver he plans; at every step, Tuttle can pull back if the action gets too intense.

“I’m not nervous,” said Tuttle. “He’s going to take care of me.”

After strapping on parachutes and strapping into the cockpit, the plane lifts off into a golden-edged sun and clear sky, whisking over the fields of corn stalks and soybeans on Brown’s homestead, nearly 200 acres of land in the Back Swamp area.

Brown keeps an airplane hangar on the property; the runway is about 1,500 feet long. A cow moans as the plane soars into the sky.

Tuttle’s wife, Joanna, a Corporal in the Marine Corps with VMX-22, watches from the ground and shoots video. She watches with another Marine from her husband’s unit, Staff Sgt. Jamie Jenkins, as the biplane buzzes by.

“They’re daredevils,” said Jenkins, an Osprey mechanic, about the Marines in his squadron.

The plane circles around Onslow County, over cornfields and pine trees. At times, it vanishes into the blue, and spectators are left only with the sound of the engine.

Then the plane reappears, dropping about 2,000 feet in a flat spin. At this point, all bets are on Jason’s use of the air sickness bag.

Because the plane is light, the pilot has to be careful not to slow down too much before landing, but Brown does it gracefully, taxiing back to Joanna and Staff Sgt. Jenkins.

Brown pops open the cockpit with an incredulous, “That’s the first Marine who didn’t get sick or queasy!”

“It was awesome,” said Jason, who most liked feeling weightless during the plane’s inverted rolls. It’s an upside-down feeling he doesn’t normally get.

“It was very generous of (Brown). His support of the Marine Corps is greatly appreciated,” Jason said.

Brown’s brother recently retired from the U.S. Air Force, but otherwise he has no ties to the military, other than growing up near one of the Marine Corps’ biggest bases, and counting the troops as his friends.

“I want to be able to give back to those who give so much,” said Brown.

Ellie