Stearman!

Last week, an unlucky pilot flipped his yellow Stearman over on his landing roll at Reagan National Airport.  The PT-17 Boeing Stearman, a 1943 Navy biplane built for World War II training, turned over as it was landing on the airport's main runway just after 10 a.m. The brightly colored plane, nicknamed the Yellow Mistress, was the second of eight Stearmans descending. The planes were publicizing the premiere of the 3-D IMAX film Legends of Flight at the Air and Space Museum.

Flying in from Manassas, the two-seater touched down at National and briefly rolled at 70 mph before flipping on its back.  Both the pilot and his passenger were unharmed.  The accident bent and curled two of the propeller's blades, and it damaged the plane's tail, rudder, vertical stabilizer, right wing and part of the engine.

Stearmans.  I've always loved them.  Check out Steve Coonts' classic The Cannibal Queen, a non-fiction account of Coonts' love affair with his own Stearman.  It's a great read about a classic father-son cross country trip that Coonts made in his Stearman with his 12 year old son.  

I always thought that was a trip that my son and I should have taken.