This is parenting in 2016: Your child is late for tennis practice. So you fly your personal plane, land it — on skis, mind you, since this is a northern suburb of Chicago, and the ground is covered in snow — illegally on a golf course, and hope no one notices. Like a modern-day Charles Lindbergh, you heroically fly in, delivering your offspring to an informal practice, scheduled before team tryouts later in the week. Seriously.
A Lake Villa man hopped in his Piper Clipper airplane Saturday, breezed above the congested roads and landed at a golf course across a highway from the tennis club, where skis on the underside of his four-seater glided across the snow-covered fairway.
Police received worried calls about a plane circling twice, then touching down at the Crane’s Landing golf course at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort. Officials thought they might have a crash, with victims to attend to. Instead, they found Robert Kadera, 65, and his 14-year-old son trudging through the snow, Prince racket and a bag of tennis balls in hand. They had parked on the 7th fairway, just 20 feet south of the retaining wall for Illinois Highway 22.
At least he stayed out of the sand trap.
Nice piloting, admittedly. Spoiled child, clearly. Obnoxious parent, most definitely. Who thinks it’s okay to land a plane on someone else’s property — without requesting permission — just so your son can make it to tennis practice? Great lesson to be teaching the kids.
Parachuting in would have been a completely different matter. (Sidebar: I’ve been on that road in Lincolnshire. There’s a great, classic miniature golf course practically around the corner: Par-King. Highly recommended.)
