Choosing the Lockheed Electra L 10A for the Amelia Earhart World Tour flight

Hah Smitty, you make me feel old...and I'm relatively young compared to most of you aging pilots (virtual, current, both or retired-real-world aviators). Anyway, can't say I've managed an overloaded truck with manual steering and manual transmission, but I've driven both manual transmission vehicles and manual steering (not to be confused by those youngsters who might think that "manual steering" is synonymous with those self-driving (autonomous vehicle) cars that are appearing on the market nowadays).

I have to chuckle a bit when, in 2013 - shortly before I retired from the police force, we had taken possession of a forfeited Datsun Pickup truck from a drunk driving case and added it to our fleet of service vehicles. We basically used it to carry barbecue grills and supplies to and from our community picnics where police and community members could interact in a positive (get to know each other) atmosphere. Anyway, the only problem with the vehicle was that it was, in fact, a manual transmission vehicle. Surprisingly, even in 2013, I was one of the few members of the department who could handle a stick-shift and clutch. So, even as the Administrative Sergeant for my department at the time, it was my duty - and enjoyment to drive that pickup to and from those picnics. Do they even sell these cars today? I firmly believe that everyone should experience the fun of driving this type of vehicle - even if it's not their primary. I recently watched a YouTube video of kids trying to figure out how to work a rotary-dial telephone. If that's any indication, I fear that a manual transmission is a bridge too far - and the lot of us best hope so because there's no time for texting, driving and shifting all at the same time. Although I must admit that in my final days on the force - with a laptop computer mounted on the hump - I was able to steer the car with my knees, type on the computer and talk on the radio almost simultaneously. I was fortunate however in that I was able to start at the very beginning - when everything was written down and computers weren't a part of the job. We started with the dumb terminal in the squads before moving to the early PC's. That's where I jumped in - creating report-writing software and wireless transfer of reports from the squad cars back to the station without officers having to return to the station to write reports. The whole thing was great fun and great boredom intermingled with great terror. I still maintain that it was the greatest adventure one can have as long as you can survive it without killing someone who doesn't deserve it or getting killed yourself...I came close to the latter a number of times - but that's another story.<br /><br /><!-- editby --><br /><br /><em>edited by: jer029, Dec 12, 2019 - 09:52 PM</em><!-- end editby -->

I learned to derive on a manual transmission car(1954 VW). I taught both of my daughters (now 49 and 46) to drive on manual transmission cars and have kept my hand in by usually having a manual transmission pick-up. That was until 2017, when I bought a Tacoma with an automatic transmission. I couldn't find one with all the options I wanted and a manual transmission. However, I lost the all automatic garage when I bought a new 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera T with a seven speed manual transmission. It took a while to learn to hit all seven of those on the first try. I do not type reports while driving it. .

Mike<br /><br /><!-- editby --><br /><br /><em>edited by: Westcoast, Dec 13, 2019 - 05:39 PM</em><!-- end editby -->