Missouri man sticks to flying tradition

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Ralph McConnell wants to be the oldest man to ever fly a plane. If his health holds up, the 90-year-old Carthage resident may reach that milestone.

"I'm shooting for the Guinness Book of World Records," said McConnell, who piloted a Piper Warrior single-engine prop plane from the Joplin Regional Airport to Carthage and back recently to celebrate his 90th birthday. "The record right now is 102 years old. So I've got a ways to go."

The birthday flight is a tradition McConnell and his family say has been carried out for years.

Not one to simply hold the wheel once the craft is airborne, McConnell was in control from takeoff to touchdown, about 21 minutes altogether.

"The weather was just a little rough, but it wasn't as bad as last year," he said of the early morning flight. "The hardest part now is getting in and out of the plane."

McConnell celebrated his birthday Nov. 20, but waited a few days to make his annual flight so he could be accompanied by his son, Mark, who lives in Wichita, Kan.

The pair were also accompanied by Mike Bentley, chief flight instructor for the Mizzou Aviation terminal at the Joplin airport.

"I work for Boeing, and I fly with some of the best pilots in the world," Mark McConnell said after the plane returned to the terminal. "And that was just as good a landing as any of those. He's done it for so many hours, it's just like muscle memory to him now."

The elder McConnell said he has logged about 15,000 hours of flight time, from his days as a bomber-pilot instructor during World War II to doing stunts for airshows, and as a professional crop duster.

Initially commissioned as an artillery officer, McConnell's duties included conducting artillery fire from an airplane, which is where he was "bitten by the flying bug."

After he left the service, he operated his own crop-dusting business for 37 years.

"Crop dusting, I met a lot of people, made a lot of friends, and had a lot of fun," he said. "I also made a good living."

There have been ups and downs to his flying career, including his annual flight on his birthday, and surviving a plane crash that broke his back and fractured his larynx.

Although he no longer flies except on his birthday, McConnell remains confident his skills will enable him to someday soar into the record books.

"Flying an airplane to me is like driving a car to you," he said. "The only reason I come over here is just to say I can still fly an airplane."