Every time you hear a story about Ronald Reagan that makes you shake your head and chuckle-a story that sounds as if it could be someone`s wishful thinking-it turns out to be right on the money.
Last Sunday, the former president was in Chicago to make a speech at the National Restaurant Association trade show. Late in the afternoon, when the speech was over, he headed back to California.
The next morning I spoke with a fellow named Dan DeLeonardis, 33, a flight instructor who works out of Du Page County Airport.
”This thing happened Sunday afternoon, and I can`t get it out of my mind,” DeLeonardis said.
He said that he and another pilot, Jim Dobesh, also 33, were ”test-hopping” a plane-checking it out after it underwent maintenance work. The plane in question was a Malibu-a single-engine aircraft that can carry six passengers.
”Jim and I were flying the plane, and suddenly we heard a voice from another plane calling the Aurora air-traffic-control center,” DeLeonardis said.
”The voice said, `We`d like to be cleared to 12,000 feet over Dixon. We have President Reagan on board, and he`d like to take a look at his hometown.` ”
Dixon, of course, is the city of 15,710 where Reagan spent his boyhood.
”The controller in Aurora gave permission, and told the pilots to stay within a 10-nautical-mile radius of Dixon,” DeLeonardis said.
”I got on the frequency and I said, `Tell President Reagan that Malibu One-Two-Zero sends its best regards.` And the pilot of Mr. Reagan`s plane said, `We will do that.` ”
DeLeonardis said, ”Here`s a man who has been all over the world, who has done things that most people will never even dream of doing-and he still wants to divert his flight so that he can look at the town where he grew up.”
It sounded sweet, but it could have been an apocryphal story coming from any Reagan supporter intent on preserving the homespun image of the former president.
But when I spoke with Reagan`s office in California a few hours after my conversation with DeLeonardis, it all checked out.
”Yes, it`s true,” said Mark Weinberg, Reagan`s spokesman. ”That`s just how it happened.”
According to Weinberg, Reagan, two staff members, and some Secret Service agents flew from California to Chicago for the speech. ”On the way into Chicago, President Reagan wondered aloud whether the plane would be going anywhere near Dixon on the way back to California.”
So when the speech was over and Reagan was heading home, the pilots-they were in command of a chartered private jet-sought permission to circle Dixon, then told the former president what they were doing.
”I don`t know enough about altitudes to tell you exactly how low we went,” Weinberg said. ”But it was low enough that we could clearly see the buildings of Dixon.
”President Reagan seemed very pleased. He gave a commentary as we circled the town. He pointed out various sites in Dixon to us, and reminisced and told stories about his memories of the place.”
Weinberg said that the pilots flew over Dixon for ”five or six minutes-President Reagan was clearly enjoying himself, so we kept circling. I got the impression that circling over Dixon and looking down on those streets and those buildings was a highlight of the trip for him. It was a special thing. Everything he would see on the ground would prompt him to reminisce. He was sharing his memories with us.
”I kidded him that he never does that when we fly over my hometown, which is Cleveland,” Weinberg said.
After speaking with Weinberg, I got back in touch with Dan DeLeonardis, the flight instructor who had taken note of all this. I told him that Weinberg had said that no one in Dixon probably knew who was in the plane that was buzzing the town. Reagan`s plane bore no markings that would indicate its passenger.
”This is sort of amazing,” DeLeonardis said. ”People come to our airfield all the time to charter little planes so they can look at their houses from the air. And here`s Ronald Reagan, doing the exact same thing.
”Come to think of it, though, it`s not so amazing at all. It almost makes sense.”
