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.
Fly-By-Knight
1990 Flying at a new level If the world headquarters of my personal airline was our home on Knight Street, the natural name had to be Fly By Knight – with a fleet of one Red Baron. By this time, I had attained a degree of mastery, and the stories were more about the trips. Here are ...Read moreWinter 1991
LifeLine Pilots Emergency Mission The phone next to my head snapped me out of deep winter slumber. It was 1:30 AM. The temperature outside was 17 degrees below zero. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! Lifeline Pilots calling. “A boy and his parents need to be in Minneapolis STAT for a kidney transplant. Will you take the mission?” Kidney transplant “Of course,” ...Read moreFall 1991
Plane trouble Thursday morning Marie and I headed to Palwaukee for what promised to be a wonderful week: Dinner with a friend and advertiser in Danville, Kentucky; a three-day conference at a luxury resort in Naples, Florida with newsstand magazine wholesalers from all over the country; and on the way home a visit with another friend ...Read more1992 Farewell to the Red Baron and Snoopy
A grand view of the Grand Canyon, childhood memory at the Crayola factory, the race is on bragging about my plane, a trip only possible on Fly By Knight, and time to move on to the next plane.Read moreBuying a Beechcraft Duke
Why a Duke? Having flown the Red Baron for five years, I had fallen in love with speedy access to any place in the U.S. But I suffered the same itch as anyone who has ever owned a boat … or a house … or a plane…. For a few dollars more you can upgrade to ...Read more