In The News:

45-Minute Joyride Meets 80-year-old's Expectations

By ABBEY STIRGWOLT

May 22, 2007: For Bob Leavitt, being 80 doesn't mean lazy days at the fishing hole. Or sitting on a park bench feeding the birds.

On his 80th birthday in February, Leavitt was offered a chance to fly an N2S "Yellow Peril," a World War II-era biplane and the same model of the first plane he flew as a Navy pilot in the early 1950s.

His dream came true Monday.

"I'm gonna be tickled pink to see that old thing," Leavitt said as he waited for the plane in a lobby at Lafayette Aviation at the Purdue University Airport.

The flight had been arranged through Never Too Late, an organization that grants "wishes" of senior citizens and terminally ill adults. Leavitt's stepdaughter, Lindy Day, heard about the foundation and applied for Leavitt to fly.

It's not his first post-retirement venture. The Purdue professor emeritus also has undertaken hot air balloon rides and parasailing.

His flight was scheduled to take off at 11 a.m. About 10:50, his wife, Jean, and a dozen friends gathered to offer support.

Though the idea of taking loops and turns in an open-cockpit biplane might grind the nerves of a fit 20-year-old, Leavitt didn't appear concerned.

"I'm excited about it," he said. "But I brought a barf bag, just in case." He grinned and removed a plastic bag from his pocket.

The plane was slightly late from its stop in Noblesville, where pilot Jerry Jensen picked up Never Too Late founder Bob Haverstick before flying into Lafayette.

The plane, yellow with a red stripe around the middle, arrived at 11:33. Leavitt watched it touch down with his arm around his wife's waist. It taxied down the runway to where Leavitt and his friends were standing.

"You gotta get goosebumps when you see something like that," friend Larry McCarthy whispered.

At 11:56, Leavitt took his place in the pilot's seat.

"Remember how to pull the rip cord on the parachute?" someone joked.

At 12:04, he shouted the commands: "Ready, commander? Fire prop."

And at 12:12, the plane picked up speed and lifted off, heading west. Before long it was no more than a black dot above the trees.

At the end of the 45-minute flight, Leavitt was as confident as ever.

"It felt like riding a bike," he said. "I felt like I could be a pilot again." 

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