About the time I graduated from kindergarten, my Uncle Leland returned from his enlistment in the newly created United States Air Force. Hanging out and making model airplanes with him ignited a passion that would burn in my heart for the rest of my years. About a decade later in Air Force ROTC I had my first flight – in the back seat of a four-place single-engine airplane. We hadn’t even cleared the runway when I was hooked. In these posts, I’ll share some of the highlights of the next sixty plus years of learning, flying and teaching in numerous planes.
Flying Through the Clouds: A Business Metaphor
Jeff Clapper’s query I grew up flying in small planes with my dad. We usually cruised at about 9000 ft, which often meant a lot of bumpy flying in clouds. Sometimes I think about this as a metaphor for owning and leading a very small business like 8th & Walton, and I look enviously at leaders ...Read moreAviation Statistics
Nearly sixty years ago I realized that simply because I was pretty good at math and science . . . and my father and grandfather were engineers . . . and engineering was the gold ticket for young men (and a few very independent women) . . . didn’t mean I had to be an ...Read more1962 The Student Pilot
In Aviation Statistics I described how I became a student pilot. But once started, the journey was nothing like I ever expected. Learning to be a pilot was as much academic study as it was practical skills. At the University of Illinois, this meant a three-hour lecture course combined with semi-weekly “lab” sessions at ...Read moreRookies in a Bonanza
1963-1967 The first hurdle in a lifetime of flying was now behind me. I was a pilot – a newbie – but a pilot none-the-less. But what lay before me? Would I, like many with a goal of becoming a pilot, punch the ticket, take a few trips, then move on to new ambitions? Would time ...Read moreA Brush with History
Crystal Lake Airport (now Lake in the Hills) was a sleepy airport serving local pilots about 30 miles northwest of O’Hare. It housed a flight school with three trainers and a couple flight instructors. Hangars on the field included one for my dad’s brand new Beechcraft Bonanza – the ultimate single-engine airplane of the time. Even ...Read more