"… I would have missed one of the greatest experiences of my life!"

So, there we were, 90% complete on the Commander project, when Milton sends me a picture and states, "This needs to be our next project!"

Immediately, we started looking for information on this "Howard 500". It was pretty tough going at first as there is only ONE still flying. And only ONE person who restored, maintains, and pilots this Howard. That person was David Cummings.

Through web searches, Milton found Dave's web site. He contacted Dave to ask if he might be willing to help with all of the technical information involved with developing an FS aircraft. Well, Dave was quite willing to provide all that would be needed to develop the project. In fact, when the questions started, Dave suggested, "why not come up here and join us on our flight to Oshkosh, and experience the Howard first hand".

WOW! What an opportunity! A chance to lay hands on the real thing for photos, details and questions. So arrangements were made. (Okay, I begged my wife. can I...can I...huh...can I...Pleeeese!)

I flew to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, where Dave picked me up in a Cessna Turbine 206 amphibian, (that itself was pretty cool!) and flew us up to the small airport where Dave and the Howard call home.

My first impression of the Howard was nothing less than a kid at Christmas! I couldn't believe I was standing there, eye to eye, with the one and only flying Howard 500! And what a magnificent aircraft it is! I might note here, that one might think an aircraft like this would be a museum piece, brought out for special occasions and such. But this aircraft is flown almost daily. It is a business aircraft!

So, out comes the camera and I start clicking pictures of every nook and cranny! The clicking finally slowed after approximately 400 pictures. And I have only been there a few hours! Dave has a great computer system and he downloaded all the pictures from the day onto a CD. Thankfully so as I still had three days and a trip to Oshkosh yet for picture taking!

The next morning the Howard was loaded and ready to go. This is when the real excitement began! From the moment those big 2500 hp radials coughed to life, I don’t think I stopped grinning! From the time the engines started, through the taxi, take off, and climb to 17,500 feet, I was snapping pictures of the panel and all the gauges, every 1000 feet, and taking videos to capture the sounds and activity of all the different stages of flying the Howard.

This is a busy cockpit during take off and climb out. Both Dave and the copilot, Jim, never seemed to stop moving levers and flipping switches. I was amazed at how much there was to do in an old twin supercharged radial aircraft such as this! Once cruise is established, things quiet down a lot and you can more enjoy the view. The Howard has no autopilot so Dave's attention must stay with flying the Howard, the entire trip.

After an hour and change, we arrived at Oshkosh. If you have never been to Oshkosh, and are an aviation enthusiast, make plans to go! As I have said many times since the trip, "If it is an aircraft, it is at Oshkosh!" It was just overwhelming the number of aircraft there. The past, the present and the future of aviation, all flying, is just something you have to see. (Probably should have taken another 400 hundred pictures! But that would be another story.)

Time came to head home. You don’t mess around long on the ground leaving Oshkosh. We were taxied out and rolling before I knew it. We climbed out to 14,500 feet, above the overcast cloud layer and into a beautiful sunny morning. Dave gets the Howard trimmed out for cruise, and turns around and says, "Would you like to fly it?"

I don’t even remember if I answered! Next thing, I’m sitting in the left seat flying the Howard 500! Now, as a student pilot, my only experience is in the Cessna 172, with its small yoke and fingertip control! The Howard has quite a large yoke, and even trimmed out, it takes a firm grip with both hands to keep a hold of it, and keep it on that GPS track! We flew level at 14,500 for about 20-30 mins. Then Dave tells me to start a descent to 2000 feet.

Holding about a 900 FPM descent, keeping it at 32" map, we're descending at about 230-240 kts. At about 5500 feet, Dave directs me to aim it through a hole in the cloud layer at about our 10 o'clock. So with a firm turn of the yoke, and some firm pressure on the pedals, I gently banked the Howard left then back right, and continued the descent thru the opening in the clouds.

To see the earth through that hole, then flying through that hole, and seeing the earth suddenly open up all around us, and leveling the Howard out at 2000 feet, covering ground at around 230 kts, was just about the neatest thing I have ever experienced!

I would like to note here that the Howard flies so smooth, due in part to its massive weight I assume. So I was very surprised, how well it responded to control inputs. While the heaviness of the controls dictates slow banks and turns, there was no lag in the response of the aircraft. It responded so smoothly and promptly to the amount of pressure applied to the controls! I’m hardly the "seasoned pilot", but I was really impressed with how wonderful an aircraft of this size and weight flies!

Well, Dave took it from there. He landed, taxied to the Hangar, and we jumped right into the 206, for my ride back to MSP, to catch my flight home. Sometime during the flight home, I think I finally stopped grinning!

In my mind, I have replayed every moment of this experience a few hundred times. Trying to keep the sights and sounds fresh in my mind, all the time I have been working on the panels and sounds, and working with Milton on the Flight Dynamics. Doing our best to capture this experience, and translate it into The Howard 500 for FS 2004!

Finally, a huge THANKS to Dave for sharing his time and the Howard 500 with us, and for providing all the invaluable technical and historical information on the Howard. Without Dave, this project would never have reached the level of realism that I believe we have achieved here.

And I would have missed one of the greatest experiences of my life!

Scott Thomas

Scott (left) and Dave at Oshkosh