Better late than never for Bedford pilot

In his youth, Bedford resident Tom Richardson had an interest in becoming a pilot, but he kept his urges grounded for many years.

At 68, he’s flying high.

The former co-owner of the Bedford Bulletin is a regular at the New London Airport, where he toils almost daily on one of his two planes. He acquired his pilot’s license in 1993.

“I love flying,” Richardson said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s not an earthshaking experience, but it’s certainly different.”

With his own hangar at the airport, which he rents for less than $100 a month, he spends a lot of spare time tampering with the engine of his 1950 L-19 Bird Dog — a plane used in the Korean War.

It’s not the world’s fastest plane, he said, but he likes its stability.

He has only been flying for 15 years after thinking he didn’t have the time or the money to spend with airplanes.

But now, he said, he’s discovered that it’s no more expensive than cars. It’s more convenient for long trips, with less traffic and less stress.

A senior volunteering time at the airport, Richardson is not alone.

Several other men close to his age spend their time there, he said, working on planes and helping take care of the place.

Richardson himself sweeps and often takes out the trash, but the camaraderie and shared love for planes is well worth it.

“That’s the reason I like it here,” he said.

He stops by the airport to work on his plane or help out except for Sunday, when he travels elsewhere to fly glider planes with friends.

Richardson calls flying a hobby, like golf. It’s also a relaxing way to spend time with his family.

Sometimes he and his wife fly an hour and a half away to the coast just for lunch.

He said he’s never had a truly scary moment in the air and stays conservative in how he flies, keeping close watch over engine capabilities and weather.

A native of Blacksburg, he spent long summer hours as a kid in Bedford and knew that was where he wanted to live.

As a marine in his early 20s, Richardson said he flirted with the idea of flying, but at the time his eyesight and testing weren’t where they should have been to allow him to do it.

After the military and college, he went to work for the family business at the Bedford newspaper. His grandfather, T.W. Richardson, bought it before the turn of the 20th century and Tom Richardson conducted printing operations there for nearly 30 years.

After selling the operation to Landmark Communications Inc. in the late 1980s and retiring a few years later, his fascination with flying resurfaced.

This time, he was ready to spread his wings.

He underwent exercises to become certified to fly — more than 40 hours of flight time and three various tests.

“If everybody had to do the same thing to get a driver’s license, there would be probably be a whole lot less wrecks,” he said.

Now a veteran pilot, he said he only wishes he learned sooner. It gives a whole new outlook on life, he said — at 110 mph.