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Chai Flyers!

Jewish pilots and small airplane enthusiasts keep 30-year-old tradition alive.

Members of the Chai Flyers pose at the club's Chanukah gathering.

Front Row: Judy Schwartz and David Berris, both of West Bloomfield; Steve Rabinovitz of Huntington Woods; Burt Stillman of Bloomfield Hills; Sid Beck and

Michael Freedman, both of West Bloomfield.

Middle Row: Murray Grossman of Waterford; Don Blitz of West Bloomfield; Susan Siporin of Farmington Hills; Dick Moy of Southfield; David Schwartz and Bob

Spitzer, both of West Bloomfield.

Back Row: Stuart Winner, Nick Panzica and Paul Feldman, all of Farmington Hills; Phil Seizinger of St. Clair Shores; Adam Jacobs of West Bloomfield; Mike Freud of

Waterford; Lee Egrin, George Cooper and Ken Dickstein, all of West Bloomfield; Don Peven and Bob Grant, both of Farmington Hills; and Mel Berent of Northville.

Robin Schwartz
JN Contributing Writer

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ne of Paul Feldman's earli-
est and fondest childhood
memories was his desire to be a
superhero — Superman, to be exact. He
was just 3 or 4 years old in the late 1940s
when he made his first attempts to take
flight after watching the Man of Steel in
the grainy, black and white Superman TV
series.
"I'd put on a towel [as a cape] and I'd
jump down 10 stairs," Feldman recalls. "I
always wanted to fly!"
Decades later, Feldman's dream of
soaring through the air at amazing speed
was realized in the cockpit of his Mooney
M20J four-seat single-engine airplane.
The commercial real estate broker from
Farmington Hills, now 66, got his private
pilot license in 1996 and instrument rat-
ing, meaning he can fly into the clouds.
He purchased the Mooney, consid-

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September 15 • 2011

ered the "sports car" of airplanes, along
with Dr. Don Blitz of West Bloomfield,
for about $70,000. They still share the
aircraft, which is housed in a hangar at
Pontiac/Oakland County International
Airport; a new one would cost more
than $600,000 today. Feldman has been
hooked on flying since day one.
"If there's ever anything bothering me,
it's totally gone when I'm flying," he says.
"It's the freedom. I love the view. I love
seeing the clouds from above rather than
below. It's like I'm in a different world."

Sharing the Air
A group of about 40 Jewish pilots and
small airplane enthusiasts from Metro
Detroit who share Feldman's passion for
aviation have been meeting regularly
for the last 30 years. The "Chai Flyers"
first formed in the early 1980s. The
group, made up of physicians, dentists,
businessmen, retirees and one profes-
sional pilot, gathers at 8 p.m. on the first

Chai Flyers call a
short lunch flight the
`$100-$200 hamburger.'

- Small plane pilot Paul Feldman

Monday of every month (Sept.-June) at
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township.
Various speakers come and share
information on topics like new equip-
ment, aviation safety, air traffic control,
model airplanes and fun places to fly.
They also have an annual Chanukah din-
ner for members and their spouses and
weekly "fly-togethers" on Saturday morn-
ings (weather permitting).
"We have breakfast and decide where
we're flying for lunch:' Feldman says. "We
used to call it the $50 hamburger. Now
[with higher gas prices] we call it the
$100-$200 hamburger."

Some members own their own
airplanes, some rent, and some, like
Feldman, share a plane with a co-owner.
"Airplanes want to fly:' says Judy
Schwartz, 72, of West Bloomfield, one of
two female pilots in the group. "When
you add some throttle to them and pull
back on the yoke about a quarter of an
inch, they want to take off and fly."
The wife, mother and grandmother
first fell in love with flying as a pas-
senger with her husband, David, in their
Mooney. They've taken countless trips
together, including long-distance jour-
neys to destinations like California and
Alaska. In 1993, Judy decided to get her
own private pilot license and instrument
rating; she completed the course in six
months.
"We fly between 4,000 and 10,000 feet:'
Schwartz explains. "Commercial planes
fly at 30,000-40,000 feet. We're moving at

Chai Flyers on page 16