High Anxiety
What kind of person risks life and limb, taking off from grassy airstrips and skimming treetops, all for a ?hundred-dollar hamburger?? Abby Zimet meets the barnstormers.
By Abby Zimet
Standing in a scruffy field tucked behind trees in Limerick, Walter "Billy" Lanoue pulls a blade of grass, tosses it into the sweet summer air, and watches as it wafts gently down. "That's my wind sock," he explains. Then he clambers into the tiny cockpit of his gray 1946 Ercoupe. He tugs on his headset, pulls up the bubble, and starts the engine, which emits a guttural if modest roar. He lurches and bounces down the runway, kicking up small puffs of dust. Hard by the trees, he slows. Circles. Revs.
