George Heinkle opened our office door and looked at me.

"There vill a customer be."

"Good morning, George," I said.

George's English was literally translated from German. It took more than one sentence to catch what he meant but eventually it came out.

Henry and I leased a Cessna 172 from George. He was a busy construction contractor so we didn't see him very often or for very long. He conducted meetings about the airplane with one hand on the open office door. He would listen, respond, nod his head and leave.

Today was different. No one had called him. He continued into the office and closed the door.

"This customer vill be a relative of my vife visiting from Germany."

"When does he arrive, George?"

"He is at my house a guest now. He vill come here this afternoon."

"Good, what can we do for him?"

"He vants to fly my Cessna.

"Okay," I said. "Does he have a pilot licence?"

"From Germany."

"All right, we will take good care of him."

"No! He is to be treated like a common person even vhen he mentions my name. He must be checked out like everyone else."

"Okay, George, I think I understand. How is his English?"

"He speaks four languages but he does not listen to any. You have to know that Axel is my vife's brother's son."

"Your nephew," I replied.

"My vife's nephew," George corrected. "You must also understand that most Germans are nice people."

"I believe that," I said cautiously.

"Axel is not von of them," George continued. "I vant you to not think my family is like this boy."

"Okay," I said agreeably.

George frowned.

"I mean, yes, I will not think that," I added quickly.

"Axel vill be difficult. He deserves nothing but please take his costs from my lease payments on the Cessna."

With that, he nodded his head, turned on his heels and marched to the door. With one hand on the knob, he turned and said, "Thank you. I think you vould say that this von I vill owe you."

He opened the door and was gone.

Illustration by Francois Bougie

That afternoon I was getting ready to fly with a student when a grey Porsche convertible screamed into our parking lot and slid sideways to a stop. The male driver and female passenger jumped out laughing. They were blond and in their early 20s. They hopped onto our steps and stormed through the office door.

The boy looked at Leanne, stopped smiling and turned to me. He flexed his facial muscles into a sneer and said, "My Uncle George says you vill give me his plane, ya?"

"You must be Axel," I said extending my hand in greeting.

He looked at it like I was handing him a dog turd. He clasped his hands behind his back.

"I vould appreciate you give it to me now, ya?" he said.

"Well," I replied in a strained friendly tone, "I would be happy to schedule a check out for you tomorrow. You will need a visitor's pilot licence from the government before you fly the airplane yourself. Did you bring your log book with you?"

"Look," he said with forced patience, "I don't tink you understand. I have been in za planes before. Dhere is notting to flew dhem. You give me za airplane now and Ursula and I go for a ride."

His girlfriend leaned back to show off her tight leather pants. She was chewing a large wad of gum.

"Before you can have the airplane," I answered, trying to sound tough, "you will have to fly with an instructor. I can book a lesson for you tomorrow morning..."

He held up his hand and shook his head as a signal for me to stop talking. He lifted his chin and looked down his nose at me.

"Listen. I don't have za time to teach your instructors," he said forcefully. "I go flying now vit Ursula!"

I tried a new tact.

"Tell me Axel, would you loan me $35,000 right now? My wife and I need it for the afternoon but I'll give it back to you at the end of the day."

"Vhat is dhis nonsense talking?" he demanded. The veins in his neck and head were swelling.

"Well, you want me to loan you a $35,000 airplane. We have never met. I'd like some reasonable expectation of getting it back in one piece. You will have to fly with an instructor - tomorrow."

"Za plane is not yours," he said loudly. "It belongs to mine uncle. You vill give it to me now!"

Before I could answer, Leanne spoke up. "Henry is available as soon as he comes down," she said, enunciating clearly. "I know he would be pleased to fly with Axel right away."

I didn't want to bother my partner with this guy. I wanted to prove that I could handle him but Leanne was using a hard-edged voice that I had never heard before. She smiled at me.

"I think I hear him taxiing in now," she added.

The look on her face told me to back off, so I did.

"Mrs. Rains will take care of you," I said to the sneering youngster.

"Very vell," he replied.

I turned to my waiting student and started a pre-flight briefing. I was only half paying attention to what I was doing because I was more interested in what Leanne had in mind.

Axel stood with a scowl on his face and his arms folded until Henry walked through the door. Leanne spoke first.

"Henry, this is Axel, George Heinkle's nephew visiting from Germany."

I didn't see it, but there must have been some secret signal between Henry and his wife.

"From Germany!" Henry exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm. "That must be your Porsche parked outside. That is a fantastic car."

Cars were the least important things in Henry's life. He drove an old, rusting, flesh-colored Ford Pinto.

Axel kept his arms folded. He flexed his sneer without saying anything. Henry was smart enough to not offer a handshake.

"Axel would like to fly his uncle's airplane," Leanne explained.

"It is a pleasure to met someone related to George," Henry said. "I would be happy to take you flying."

"I have already from Germany za pilot licence. You give me mine uncle's plane." His accent was thick. His tone was flat and threatening. "I fly myself vit Ursula."

"Your English is very good," Henry said. It was a lie. "Is this your first visit to Canada?"

"Vhat does dhat matter?" Axel replied angrily.

"You need a Canadian pilot licence. Otherwise we have no insurance coverage on your uncle’s airplane," Henry said calmly.

"I fly lots in Germany," Axel declared. "German pilots are za best in za world. You give me za plane."

"Leanne can arrange a visiting pilot licence for you but it will take a couple of days. In the meantime, we could take Ursula along, fly over Niagara Falls and you could show Ursula and me what a good pilot you are."

I could see that Axel wanted to explode but he was measuring the firm but friendly stance in Henry's voice. Before he could say anything, Henry continued.

"I have never flown with a German pilot," Henry said. "I bet you could teach me a few things.

"I did not come all za vay here to teach you flying," Axel said. "I don't have much time."

Henry walked over to Ursula. He helped himself to her handshake even though it wasn't offered.

"Ursula, I'm Henry Rains. It is a great day for flying. Can you talk Axel into taking us up?"

It is possible that she did not understand English. Axel barked at her in German. She smiled nervously through her chewing gum but did not speak.

"Very vell," Axel said to Henry, "ve go flying." His tone was softening a little.

"Let's go then," Henry said, taking the Cessna logbook offered by Leanne. "I'll help you pull the airplane out and check it over." I heard Henry speak before he closed the office door behind him. "I've always wanted a Porsche."

When I was done briefing my student, I sent him to check the airplane over while I signed us out.

"I hope you didn't mind my intervention on that one," Leanne said a little nervously. "I could see Axel was trouble and I knew that Henry had lots of experience with that type."

"Don't worry about it," I said. "I must say that I've never seen Henry like that before."

"Henry's father-in-law is an aging Axel," she continued.

It took me a few seconds to connect to what she was saying.

"You mean your father acts like Axel?"

"Brigadier General Horatio Montgomery, the same. When the army spends your whole life telling you how great you are, you believe it. I find Dad intolerable. Henry has him eating out of his hand."

"I don't know how he can take it."

"Me either."

"Well, he's welcome to it."

"That's what I thought."

When I landed an hour later, Henry was still up with Axel and Ursula. They came in after I was finished with my student. The three of them were laughing together like old friends.

"Leanne," Henry said with an exaggerated chuckle, "you should have seen the look on Ursula's face when Axel did a steep turn over Niagara Falls. I thought she was going to jump out of the airplane."

Axel grinned proudly. He translated what was said into German for Ursula and then laughed uproariously. It was Ursula's cue to laugh too. She did. Leanne dutifully smiled.

"Of course the turn was flawless," Henry continued. "There was never any danger."

Axel translated. Ursula nodded knowingly.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't do stalls, spins or forced approaches," Henry said to Axel, "but you know how the regulations are with passengers on board. If you are available any time this week, we'll go up again."

"Ya, any time," Axel said obligingly.

"And I want you to meet this friend of mine with the grass strip. You won't believe this place until you see it."

"Ya, I vould like dhat."

I could tell that Henry was manufacturing excuses to fly more with Axel. Obviously he had made friends with the surly German but Axel must be a lousy pilot. They made another booking. Axel thanked Henry for the flight, ignored Leanne and me, and left with Ursula.

"Congratulations," I said to Henry, "you have made friends with the Fourth Reich."

Henry smiled, but only slightly. "My dog could fly better and she can't reach the rudder pedals."

"Leanne," I said, "Check the insurance on the Cessna before he sends the Luftwaffe solo in it."

"I already have."