Mitchell recalls showing up as a substitute Sunday school teacher years ago in Renton, Wash., where he had a job selling helicopters. The 13-year-old boys in the class were determined to give him a bad time, "so I said, 'Look, if we can get through the lesson, we'll do some ground school," he says.
Ground school? The boys fell silent. If Mitchell could give them ground lessons, then perhaps some time in the air might follow.
It did. A few weeks later, Mitchell took them all flying, and for one boy in particular, it was a life-changing moment. Years later, after Mitchell had moved to Utah, he heard somebody call out his name in an air hangar. A tall young man with blond hair rushed forward.
"You might not remember me, but I remember you," he told Mitchell. "My name is Rod Tiede — one of those rowdy Sunday school kids you took flying. That day was the best day of my life. Today, I'm a corporate pilot."
But there's so much more to the story, including a friendship that has continued through the years and a pilot who, every time he flies, says, "Thank you, Ralph Mitchell. Thank you, Ralph Mitchell."
In Ralph's words:
The reason I got on the Internet: In the newspaper one day, I saw a column written by Cathy Free, she had a little tagline, “If you’ve got an interesting story, call me and I’ll take you to lunch.” …
So I thought why not? I had had an experience in Seattle. When we first moved to Seattle, we moved into Renton, Renton 3rd ward, and they called me to be a substitute Sunday school teacher. I walked into the class that morning, and there was 3 teenage boys. What are they going to do to a substitute Sunday school teacher? They’re going to make short work of him!
I could see it coming, so I said, “Hey guys, if you’ll sit still and let me finish the lesson, I’ll give you some ground school.” What’s ground school? I said, “I run a flight school over here at Boeing Field flying helicopters and things. I’ll give you the rest of the class time and we’ll do ground school.”
So I told them all about aerodynamics and basic controls and instruments and everything. One of the guys, his eyes were that big [Ralph held his hands out to the side of his head]. He couldn't get enough in his head. I took them for a ride later that week, all three of them, one at a time.
Now run the clock ahead about 10 to 15 years, I’m selling airplanes here in Salt Lake, I walk through the lobby and I hear my name. “Ralph Mitchell?” I turn around and look, and here’s this big tall kid. I said, “Yeah?” He said, “You probably don’t remember me. I’m RT.” I said, “Yeah, I remember RT, Sunday school class in Renton.” He grabbed my hand and started shaking it. “I want to thank you for changing my life.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “I was an undisciplined, unfocused teenager until I saw flying. You took us for a ride. My life changed. I’m now a corporate pilot for Safeway stores.” I never knew until that moment! And I said, “Ok, great, I am excited for you.” And he said, “No, I’m serious. I want to thank you for changing my life, putting me on a track that I thoroughly enjoy.”
I thought that was an interesting story. So I emailed this Cathy Free, and said I have a little story about how somebody’s life was changed because of a chance meeting. So she called and took me to lunch. We had lunch at Applebee’s just down here. She said, “Ok, tell me how you got started flying.” “No, no, no. The story is about RT, and how he got started.” “No, no. I want to find out how you got started.” So I told her the glass story. She said, “That is fun. That’s interesting. Now tell me about RT.”
So both stories came out, and she printed it. I saw it in the paper, then I got an email from RT and he said, “Hey, there’s our story." AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) picked it up and put it on their website as a pilot vignette. So it went viral. It was all over. And I got phone calls from friends that I knew around there who said, Hey, I saw your story, I read your story. Anyway, I kept it, it’s still on my Internet.
But anyway, to follow up on this RT story, he lives in Salt Lake now. He owns a business downtown. It’s a satellite broadcasting type business....But I was teaching flying - I got contacted by Gene Curtis that owns G and B flight service. He called me and he says, “do you know to spin an airplane?” I said, Yah. He said, “Do spins bother you?” No. I like spins. He said, “Ok, I’ve got 6 flight instructors that are scared to death of spins.” I said, there’s no reason to be scared of spins. He said, “Yah, but they’re scaring the students now. Would you take them up and teach them how to do spins again? Because they had to do spins to get their flight instructor certificate.
KF: This is when you roll the plane?
No, this is when you stall, it loses power and you roll it over, spin. So anyway, the rest is history. So he hired me to teach these instructors and I would take them out. So my name was on the roster of his instructors.
One day I got a phone call. “Hi, is this Ralph Mitchell?” Yah. “Is this the Ralph Mitchell that used to live in Renton?” I said, “Is this RT?” He said, “Yah! Are you an instructor at Skypark?” Yah. He said, “I need my bi-annual flight review.” Ok, RT! So we went up in a twin engine and I certified him again for his. So we’ve been back and forth together, talking, gone to lunch a few times.
Well, he bought a share of a twin-engine Duke, which is a pressurized, very high-speed airplane, twin engine, cabin, he has a 10th ownership in it, and I’ve gone up with him in it several times. Anyway, to make a long story short, which I never do, just last week, he rode with me to get me re-certified for my flight instructor. Next week he’s going to ride with one of my students who’s ready to solo as we take them up to a point, then we have another flight instructor ride for what we call a phase check. So his pre-solo phase check is going to be with RT. So we’ve stayed interested and together....
Oh, I was leading up to tell you, he’s kind of phasing out of his business, and he’s got a job flying Learjets for a charter company....He said, “... Not a trip goes by, last week, in fact, we’re on our way to Baltimore, Maryland, and I’m sitting there in a Learjet, 35,000 feet, doing 550 knots and I said, 'Thank you, Ralph Mitchell. Thank you, Ralph Mitchell.'
..........
Source:
- From a conversation on [date? I have a transcript with timestamps from this interview, but didn't mark the date of the recording. 2014ish? I'll update the source when I confirm the date.]
- Read the entire collection of Ralph's flying experiences here.
