Short Final: Identity Crisis

I owned my little two-seat Grumman AA1-B for 22 years and loved it. But after getting my instrument rating, I realized it just wasn’t practical for IFR travel. So I eventually sold the Grumman to a friend (who formed a partnership with another pilot) and upgraded to a 1954 V-tail Bonanza, which I also loved. After 22 years with the same airplane, it took me a while to acclimate to a new tail number on the radio.

A few years later, I flew the Bonanza to Frederick Municipal Airport in Maryland to visit with some friends at AOPA. I was about to key the microphone to announce my planned entry into the pattern when I was taken aback hearing another aircraft on the frequency ahead of me. “Frederick traffic: Grumman [my old tail number], entering downwind Runway 23.” It wasn’t my friend’s voice, so I assume it was his partner. Tall odds that both airplanes I have owned would be in the pattern at the same time.

And when I made my call on the radio to enter the pattern, I had to consciously remember which one of “my” airplanes I was flying.