Lou’s View 5/27

By Lou Bernard

It’s not exactly any big secret that Piper airplanes were once manufactured in Lock Haven. Piper Aviation came to Clinton County in 1937, and stayed until 1984. For all that time, Piper planes were made here. And that gave Lock Haven some influence on things.

For instance, World War II. The Piper Grasshopper, which was made in Lock Haven, helped the war effort. Politically, Pipers have been used to ferry around all sorts of important people. But there’s another social aspect that a lot of people don’t notice.

Pipers have been used a lot in popular culture. Quite a few movies and TV shows have used Piper airplanes, to the point I’ve started to wonder if maybe William Piper made some sort of special deal with Hollywood. The truth is probably closer to the reasons his planes sold so well: They were made to be comparatively inexpensive, and easy for average people to use. So when directors are looking for planes on a budget, they often choose Pipers.

Piper aircraft have been spotted on “Airwolf,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “Matlock,” and “NCIS.” A Tri-Pacer was featured in the Adam West “Batman,” and I’m fairly sure James Bond has flown in Pipers several times. I myself can give you a few examples, based on my vast experience of sitting in my recliner and telling my wife,”Hey! That’s a Piper plane!”

A few years ago, there was a TV show called “The Last Man On Earth,” starring Will Forte. Forte wasn’t actually the last man on Earth, but early on it looked like he was. In later episodes, there was a story arc where one character decided to fly across the ocean, something of a challenge after a global apocalypse. He attempted it in a Piper plane, and then crashed. Out of solidarity for Lock Haven, I have to add that the crash was due to his own piloting inexperience, not a lack of safety in Pipers.

I’ve recently been watching the show “Modern Family,” and I have to question how I never discovered this show when it was still on the air. In the show, grandfather Jay Pritchett, played by Ed O’Neill, runs a closet empire. To relax, he builds model airplanes. In several episodes, you can see a model Piper Cub hanging in his room. It’s obviously a Cub; nothing else in the world is quite that same shade of yellow.

But one of my favorites—And one that took me completely by surprise—Is “The Bodyguard.”

That’s right, Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. The first time I ever saw that movie was the Nineties, and I hadn’t yet made much of a study of Piper airplanes. Not too long ago, I re-watched it, and it’s just as good as I remember. And at the end, Piper planes make kind of a mass cameo.

You may recall the scene at the end, where Whitney Houston is leaving Kevin Costner forever. She’s boarding an airplane. And the camera pans across the airfield, and I saw something that shocked me.

Aside from the plane Whitney Houston is actually boarding, EVERY SINGLE PLANE on that airfield is a Piper. I could pick out Aztecs, Comanches, and Navajos. I was actually really surprised; I got the remote and backed it up to watch that bit again and see how many planes I could name.

I love this. I love Piper planes, and it’s neat to see these planes that were designed in my city showing up in popular culture. I have something of an appreciation for the experience of spotting these planes on the screen.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sing for a moment, and express how I feel about the Piper planes.
“And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII….Will always love yooooooooouuuu…..”