Sometimes making a hard, but right decision really pays off.

Late last year I read in the local paper that Burt Rutan was retiring to Coeur d'Alene and would be living about a mile from me. We had met back in '96 at Oshkosh when I had just won the Cross Country Race and he was unveiling the Boomerang. He challenged me to a race but events conspired to prevent it. When I learned of his move to Idaho I sent him an email with the subject line "There goes the neighborhood!" where I reintroduced myself and offered to assist with getting to know his and Tonya's new home town. Long story made short, Hamid and I ended up designing the hybrid power system for the BiPod.

Fast forward to late spring of this year when some heavy equipment accidentally tore up a large section of my runway, stranding my IV-P. My friend Derek was not planning to go to OSH this year so I would be flying solo. I made the decision that if the runway was not fixed by two weekends before OSH, giving me time to get current, I would not go. My self imposed deadline came and went without a serviceable runway so I consigned myself to missing Airventure 2011. After making my No-Go decision I remembered that Burt had mentioned that Robert Scherer was going to fly his Starship to COE to pick up Burt and Tonya and bring them to OSH. I emailed Burt saying "I know this is presumptuous and I expect the answer to be NO, but is there room in the Starship?". Burt forwarded may email to Robert and within the hour he advised there was plenty of room. Fantastic!

We get to the airport and Burt says "Brent, you should take the right seat. You need to see the avionics in action." Don't have to ask me twice. As we are turning on course for OSH, Robert asks "Do you want to fly?" Don't have to ask me twice.

As we passed FL180 for FL330 it occurred to me that my No-Go decision had directly resulted in me going to Oshkosh with Burt Rutan in a Starship piloted by Robert Scherer (the same Starship and pilot that flew chase during the SS1 flights). Talk about a trifecta of good fortune. I'm still grinning.

I can't tell you how many times I have opted for "No-Go" only to regret that decision later. I will never have regrets again. That No-Go decision opened the door for me to have a once in a lifetime experience and spend time with some fascinating, cool and, frankly, genuinely nice people. Bert, Tonya, Dick, Kris, Robert, Jeff and Angel, thank you!

Remember, when one door closes, another usually opens.

Regards
Brent Regan

Aviation Week article on BiPod:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/aviation_week/on_space_and_technology/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=a68cb417-3364-4fbf-a9dd-4feda680ec9c&plckPostId=Blog%3aa68cb417-3364-4fbf-a9dd-4feda680ec9cPost%3ace084daa-4385-40ee-9664-b29f4a0cfecb&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

Starship site: www.rps3.com