Meet the Authors

Timothy Acker

Timothy is a flying addict with a 45-year re incident record. He holds a SES and SEL rating in the US, but long ago flew commercially in South America with additional ratings including multi-engine. He is 100% English/Spanish bilingual. After several near-death experiences he erroneously decided that practicing law in the United States was safer. He is the author of Pirates, Scoundrels and Saints: Paraiso – the first of a series about modern day piracy in the Caribbean. Theodore, his renegade doppelganger flies a Twin Beech in the series. He also writes for the Bonanza Magazine on a regular basis. A local paper recently published his flying articles about his attempt to become the benevolent dictator of Belize after arriving in his 1947 Beech Bonanza. He has several thousand hours of logged time in most every single engine plane and in South America, and he flew twins including the Beech 18 and Aztec.

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Dale Agner

Dale Agner is currently an instrument and commercially rated pilot, having begun flying general aviation in 2014. He trained as a Family Physician with the Air Force and also served as a senior flight surgeon. He completed a 25-year career in the Air Force and transitioned to teaching Family Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. He has 800 total general aviation flying hours, with ~100 hours IMC and over 500 cross country hours, including coast to coast trips (with frequent trips to Montana and Texas). He is slowly working on becoming a certified flight instructor.

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Cary Alburn

Cary grew up in Wyoming where he went to college and law school. He spent the first 5+ years of his legal career as a USAF JAG. He learned to fly while stationed at Elmendorf AFB, AK. After leaving the USAF, he earned his commercial, instrument, CFI, and CFII. For a decade in the 70s and 80s, he was a part-time instructor and flew Part 135 charters. A couple of years ago, he added SES to his certificate. He has been flying 44+ years. Retired from law practice, he continues to fly regularly at age 73, in his 1963 Cessna.

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Cris Alexander

Cris Alexander is a professional broadcast engineer by trade but has had a lifelong love of flying and has, at times, been able to use his private pilot privileges in his engineering work, flying to various television shoots and engineering jobs in Pipers and Mooneys. After a 25-year hiatus during which he raised two kids and pursued his career, he got back in the cockpit and has rediscovered the joy of flight. His adult daughter and fellow engineer often sits in the right seat and helps with cockpit duties. Cris lives with his wife in the mountains of Colorado.

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Peter Allen

Peter has wanted to fly all his life. He became an A&P in 1986 and got his Private license the same year. After working as an A&P for several years and gaining his IFR ticket along the way, he went to Phoenix, AZ, and enrolled in helicopter flight school in 1991. After graduating he worked as a flight instructor until the school went out of business. Since then he has spent the past 27 years as an A&P, IA, Pilot, Instructor, Chief Pilot, helicopter business owner, maintenance director, and commercial pilot. Currently he is in the Middle East working as an off-shore helicopter pilot, company check airman, type rating instructor, type rating examiner, and simulator instructor/examiner. His ratings include A&P Mechanic, ATP Helicopter Pilot, CFI/CFII Helicopter, Single engine land and Multi engine land with an Instrument rating, Commercial Glider Pilot, Light Sport Gyrocopter Pilot, and UAS Drone Pilot. Peter has been married to a wonderful and understanding woman since 1989 and has four grown children. If allowed to do any job in aviation… he would be a flight instructor, and that is what he intends to do instead of retiring.

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Leonard Ammerer

Leonard Ammerer was born in 1975 and is currently working as an IT Architect in Vienna. He caught the aviation bug early as a kid when he got hold of a used copy of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry´s “Wind, Sand and Stars.” While his professional career was never aviation-themed, his dream to become a pilot never waned, so he attained his private pilot license in 2015. Mainly flying DA20s from his home base in Wr. Neustadt (LOAN) south of Vienna, with the Alps at the front door, he developed a distinct passion for mountain flying. Recently he completed DA40 and Garmin1000 theory as part of his plan to extend his flying experience and capabilities.

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Matt Askin

Matt Askin has been a private pilot for just three years and is optimistic for a prolonged honeymoon phase. With family airline ties, his childhood vacations swapped 12 hour road trips for 2 hour flights—plus 10 hours of plane-spotting while waiting for non-revenue seats. His aviation obsession reinforced, he saved to fund his ASEL certificate and is now based with a New Jersey flying club. He currently logs hours at a corporate cubicle to support those spent in the Cessna at a ratio of 80:1, but is hopeful for potential subsidies in the form of scratch off lottery tickets.

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William Babis

William Babis grew up as an airport bum at sunken Lunken in Cincinnati, Ohio, working for his father who owned an avionics business. He earned his ratings through ATP and flew every type of GA aircraft imaginable. As a Civil Air Patrol cadet he received the Spaatz Award and made many lasting friendships. William enjoys the personal contact and challenges of corporate flying and has stayed in it for over 40 years. Along the way, he graduated from Embry Riddle University and acquired a dozen type ratings along with commercial glider and rotorcraft ratings. Currently, he flies for a great company in east Tennessee and often takes his beautiful bride of 40 years along as his co-pilot as he continues to live the dream.

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John Banas

John F. Banas earned his Private Pilot certificate in 1979 while attending college. He had hoped to fly for the airlines but life intervened and he was launched on a successful technology career. Yet he’s never been far from aviation and is now the Safety Officer for the Fox Valley Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol in Illinois and is working his way up to becoming a mission pilot. In his spare time, he pretends to be a novelist and is currently completing a book in the thriller genre.

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Gal Bar-or

Gal Bar-or was born in Israel and raised in New York City, and although he wanted to be a pilot from childhood, he did not get to realize that dream until his 33rd birthday. From that point on, he has been flying non-stop, logging over 3000 hours in many different aircraft from a low and slow Carbon Cub that he built to a turboprop he flies today. He lives in the western Wyoming area and has many hours of flying experience in the mountains in hard IFR as well as in the Idaho backcountry in bush planes. He holds a commercial single engine land, sea and glider, as well as a multi-engine instrument ratings.

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Maurie Baston

Maurie Baston spent 18 years in the Royal Australian Air Force with a strong focus on pilot training, membership of six separate aerobatic teams, solo aerobatic display flying, and numerous overseas liaison appointments. He flew Convair 880’s with Cathay Pacific Airways in Hong Kong before returning to Australia, eventually setting up his own company: Air Transport Management. His 11 years with the (then) Australian Civil Aviation Authority involved him at senior executive level in project management and restructuring roles including the introduction of the District Offices concepts, as well as industry oversight of airline B747/767 operations. In his 15 years involvement in airline operations with Cathay Pacific, Qantas, United Airlines and Air Nauru, he has worked as an airline operations manager/chief pilot, on route and fleet development all over the Pacific. He now operates an aviation consultancy business based in Australia and the USA.

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Bill Beck

Bill’s fascination with airplanes dates to early childhood, age two, and a small balsa wood glider. Later he grew up under the base-leg flight path of the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. His favorite aircraft of the 1950s was the mighty “Peacemaker” of all times, the B-36. His personal involvement in the aviation world began when he was forty years of age. Since then, he has earned his Private Pilot License, single engine land with tail wheel endorsement, and the FAA Airframe Mechanics License. He was also employed at the Gulfstream Aerospace facility, Bethany, OK. Since 2008 he has been the Commander, Squadron 3, Youth Aviation Adventure’s annual event held at the Gordon Cooper Aviation Technology Training Center, Shawnee, OK. He served as a Shawnee Airport Advisory Board Member, too. In 2014 Bill founded a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Heartland Aeronautical Experience, Inc., with the mission of “Inspiring Individuals to Choose an Aerospace Career.”

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Richard Benson

Richard purchased his first plane, a 1969 Cessna 182, primarily for instrument training, logging 750 hours, including several adventures into British Columbia and as far south as Loreto in Baja. His second plane was a 1976 Cessna T-210, allowing him to top the clouds on 80% of his flights. He flew ‘EK’ for 14 years, logging 1400 hours. In 1989, his love affair with the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho was born and he has now logged 3,000+ hours as he enjoys his third aircraft, a 1964 Cessna 182; a more suitable plane for the grass and gravel strips of Oregon, Idaho, & BC that he enjoys so much!

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Jason Blair

Jason Blair is an active single and multi-engine instructor and FAA Designated Pilot Examiner with 5,000 hours total time and 3,000 hours instruction given. In his role as examiner, over 1000 pilot certificates have been issued. He writes for multiple aviation publications and actively works within the general aviation and training industry.

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Bob Blinick

Bob’s interest in aviation began in the 1950s when he and his older brother trekked to Canal Street in New York and bought WWII surplus instruments to build a replica of a B-29 cockpit (their uncle, a pilot during WWII, provided technical assistance…). His interest remained dormant until a client, the owner of Everything Flyable, Inc., a flight school in southern California, flew him to Catalina for lunch. Under his client’s mentorship, Bob got his PPL and instrument rating, and acquired a Trinidad TB-20. Bob has created advertising for EFI and AOPA, and currently resides in New Jersey.

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Dan Blore

Dan began flying in 1968 at a little grass strip called Colts Neck in New Jersey. It was a magical world to him of Cubs and Champs and almost one of each of all the other great airplanes from the 30s-50s. He started towing banners at 18 and flew for a living for the rest of his life. He got hired by a major in 1978 and retired in 2017. Dan has always been a Cub pilot at heart and currently has a 1941 T-Cub (shortened T-craft wings and a big engine on a Cub). He published a book a few years back called Goat Rope: A Pilot’s Tale.

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Cindy Baier Boelk

Cindy Baier Boelk is a freelance non-fiction, short story writer from Oakfield, WI. Her work has appeared in Our Wisconsin and Badger Sportsman magazines and can be found on the Byron, WI, Historical Society website. Her stories generally reflect local history and poignant memories. Cindy grew up on a farm with a grass airstrip in the early days of EAA. Summer vacations were spent at the EAA Convention in Rockford, IL, and later Oshkosh, WI. Cindy has a student pilot’s license and hopes to finish her private license obligations now that her children have grown.

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Ross Bond

Ross was born in New Zealand and started flying in 1977 after hanging on the fence at the local airport and watching students landing Cessna 150’s. Soon he joined them, gaining his private license in 1978. He moved to Australia in 1987 and added his commercial license and Instructor rating in 1990 and did a lot of “skydiver driving” over Brisbane. Flying took a back seat to a career in engineering for a while but after taking early retirement he returned to instructing. These days he lives in Houston, TX.

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John Bone

John R. Bone is a retired Delta B-777 Captain with over 24,000 hours of flying time. He holds an ATP with type ratings in LR-JET, CE-500, CE-510S, IA-JET, BE-400, MU-300, B-727, B-737, B-757, B-767. B-777. He also holds CFI, CFII and A&P mechanic certificates. He owns and flies a Cirrus SR-22 and a 1942 WACO UPF-7. He currently works as a Cirrus Standardized Pilot Instructor (CSIP) out of Apalachicola, FL. In 2017 in completed an eastbound circumnavigation in a Cirrus SR-22 covering over 21,000 miles in 53 days.

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David Bonnici

A life-long aviation enthusiast, David Bonnici waited until he was in his mid-40s before deciding to finally indulge his dream to become a pilot. Midway through his training he switched from GA to light sport flying, where he earned his pilot certificate and cross country endorsement, and is now in the process of returning to GA to gain his PPL. David has embraced Australia’s general aviation community by writing about his flight-training experiences for aviation publications such as AOPA Australia’s Pilot, and Sport Pilot magazine. He aims to gradually gain his Commercial Pilot Licence and CFI rating to become an instructor for his retirement side hustle.

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Steve Booth

Stephen Booth is the President and CEO of a building materials distribution company located in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. He started flying because “It was something I’ve always wanted to do!” He has been flying for over 21 years and uses aviation for both business, pleasure and fun with the grandkids. He currently owns and operates a Cessna 414 with PPL, SEL, MEL Instrument. He is a member of The Twin Cessna Flyer and AOPA organizations.

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Alexandre Bouchard

Alexandre Bouchard is a French private pilot with around 200 hours of VFR flying in his logbook. He’s currently studying to become an Air Traffic Controller at a small field west of Paris near Versailles. He has been studying at the ENAC (Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile, which is the French aviation university) for 2 years. His father used to be a skydiver (only as a hobby, not a job) which explains why Alexandre fell in love with aviation at a really young age – he spent a lot of weekends staring at airplanes behind the fence. Always in search of more knowledge, he loves reading aviation books. Now he is beginning to love writing aviation stuff.

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Grant Boyd

Grant Boyd is the owner of Boyd Aviation Group, an aviation marketing and communications firm based out of Wichita, Kansas. In addition to owning his own marketing firm, he works for Textron Aviation and The Wichita Aero Club. His professional plans are: growing his business into a household name in the aviation industry and showing youth the joys of general aviation. Mr. Boyd grew up around aviation and earned his pilot’s license at age seventeen.

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Kristin Britt

Kristin was born in 1971 and grew up in central Illinois. She paid her way through college by serving in the United States Air Force from 1989 – 1993. While in the Air Force, bases included Great Falls, Montana, and Mildenhall, England. She then attended the University of Illinois, as well as the Institute of Aviation beginning in 1994. She earned a degree in Entrepreneurship and her certificates and ratings. She flight instructed at the Institute of Aviation, before becoming a First Officer and then Captain for a commuter and is now Captain for a major airline. She has many leather bound books and her house smells of mahogany.

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Richard Browne

Born in Rhodesia during the height of the bush war, Richard’s aviation affliction was brought on by Allouette helicopters, Cessna 337’s, Dakotas and Hawker Hunters. He would draw, then redraw them as he grew more technically aware of the aircraft. This love was to become his career and Richard now sits in the left seat of the Boeing 747-8 and Boeing 747-400 boring long tunnels through the skies around the world. Back home, a Yak18T and a Radial Starduster sit patiently for their ignition moments when the passion to be free from RNP airspace beckons. Cape Town, South Africa, is an ideal platform from where to enjoy such delights.

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Tom Brusehaver

Tom has been smitten with airplanes since he was 3 years old, and finally got his private pilot license when he was in his 30. He’s been writing software for his career, and been lucky enough to work for two airlines, and have 5 years writing air traffic control software. Tom has also built and flown a Cozy MkIV.

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Bruce Buchanan

Bruce J Buchanan served in the U.S. Army, 32nd Army Air Defense Command in Wiesbaden, Germany. He is a Private Pilot and U.S. Coast Guard Licensed Captain/Merchant Marine Officer. Bruce spent 28 years in the radio broadcast industry, including as a programming consultant for format changes and station rebuilding. Companies included American Broadcasting Company, Disney/Shamrock, Doubleday, AVCO, Fairbanks, McLendon, & Citadel. Related activities included commercial and jingle production in Dallas and New York City, as well as Operations Manager at Intermountain News Network, a 130-station network located the Rocky Mountain states. He produced live on-site radio broadcast coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, for a Washington, D.C., broadcast group, and is currently President of the Naples Auto Repair Association, Inc.

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Tanya J. Buchanan

Tanya has been a Business Analyst by trade for more than 20 years. She has learned communication is the key – ask a lot of questions and listen to the responses that shed light on what’s important to stakeholders. This has helped her and her pilot tremendously, through their journey of being airplane renters to airplane clubbers to airplane owners. She wants to help both pilots and co-pilots better understand each other, enjoy airplane ownership and fly happily together for years to come. Follow her @TanyaBMrsRightseat to keep the conversation going.

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Robert Burke

A native of eastern Pennsylvania, Robert Burke is the son of a 1930s aviator. He obtained his private pilot’s license at age 16 at Zahn’s Airport on Long Island, NY in an Aeronca Champ. Having spent his career in corporate aviation, from its “golden age” in Beech 18s through to the modern era of Falcon jets, Bob has worked for CBS, National Distillers, and finally retired as the head of Champion Paper Company’s flight department. Still an avid pilot, he flies his restored Aeronca Champ and A-1 Husky from his local airport in Missouri.

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Devin Burroughs

As a fourth generation pilot, Devin shares his passion for aviation with his father, two uncles, and aunt. They got him excited about the hobby, and soon after he left high school he had completed his private pilot training in a family plane. After that he knew he wanted to become an instructor to share aviation with others. In a year and a half he completed the checkrides for his instrument, commercial, CFI, and CFII certificates. Devin is now 23 years old and works as an instructor at a small flight school in Albany, Oregon, where every day is new, fun, and challenging.

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Clyde Butler

Clyde Butler is a career pilot and freelance writer who has contributed multiple articles to Plane and Pilot Magazine, Cessna Flyer and several other non-aviation publications. After learning to fly in 1973 he followed an unusual path to a flying career. His first job in aviation was as a line boy and over the years progressed through A&P mechanic, CFI, charter pilot, corporate pilot, airline pilot and military contract pilot. With over 10,000 hours of flying time, he holds ATP, CFI, CFI-I, MEI, A&P, and IA certificates. He says “I don’t feel like I really fit solely within any specific aviation category. I could probably best be described as an aviation professional in that I continue to exercise the privileges of all my FAA certificates.”

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Bob Button

Bob Button is an award-winning writer and journalist and published author since age 12 when his first poem got into print. Since then he’s written for daily newspapers, international news syndicates, national magazines, and more recently aviation/space websites. Button was a documentary film writer-director during the late Fifties – his films, mostly about America’s space programs, garnered many honors, including Academy Award recognition. Button joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1960 as a public affairs officer during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo man-in-space programs. He broadcast from Mission Control Center in Houston during missions, earning the title, “The Voice of Gemini.” Button was the astronauts’ spokesman and served as moderator at their press conferences. Some became very close friends and flew often with Bob in private aircraft. Button’s aviation and space stories turned up in a dozen national and international aerospace publications; some appeared on the covers of such major U.S. magazines as Science Digest, Flying, Private Pilot, and TV Guide. In 2014 he collaborated with Jay Barbree of NBC-TV in Jay’s best-selling biography, Neil Armstrong, a Life of Flight (St. Martin’s Press). Button served in all four military branches, beginning at age 16 with the U.S. Navy during World War II. A Purple Heart Army veteran of the Korean War, he fought at the battles of Pork Chop Hill and Heartbreak Ridge. A Marine sergeant during Vietnam, Button taught close combat and long-range patrolling, earning Leatherneck magazine’s USMC instructor of the year award in 1957. He returned to the Army and retired in 1989 as an Infantry sergeant major. In the sSixties Button flew Search and Rescue missions for the Civil Air Patrol. Later in his seventies he flew for the U. S Coast Guard Auxiliary for ten years. His flying over half a century earned him the FAA’s highest honor, The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.

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Alex Cabot

Alex Cabot has always had a love of airplanes. From his first general aviation experience in a 1946 Luscombe 8 taildragger at the age of 13, to his private certificate (many years later), the open sky has constantly beckoned him. A managing partner of an investment company and author of two books on personal finance, Alex somehow makes time to fly every once in a while. His focus now, apart from work and family, is logging cross country hours on his way to an IFR ticket. Alex is passionate about travel and expects aviation to help grow that passion!

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Tom Callahan

Tom Callahan is a 1,300-hour commercial rated pilot living and flying out of Morristown, NJ (KMMU). He has four daughters, who are fond of complaining about the lack of WiFi in his Cirrus. His passion is public service flying for both two legged passengers and four. He was named the 2017 Rescue Pilot of the Year by the Home for Good Dog Rescue.

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Tim Cantrell

Tim Cantrell is a retired airline A&P mechanic. He also holds a Commercial Airman Certificate, Fixed and Rotor Wing, SEL, MEL, SES, Glider, and is instrument rated in both fixed wing and helicopter. He began his career with the U.S. Army in 1973 at Ft. Carson, Colorado, as a Chinook helicopter mechanic. It was at Ft. Carson that he earned his Private, Commercial, instrument and Multi engine ratings. He went on to crop dust in Florida, attend and graduate rotary wing flight school at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, and work as a heavy jet mechanic for FedEx in Memphis. Retired in 2008, he lives in Murray, Kentucky, and flies his Bushcat LSA from Kyle Oakley (CEY) airport.

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Steve Carkeek

After the Air Force Steve went to school and eventually secured a tenured faculty position at a small college. He lives in Seattle and owns and flies a 172, a plane that was pushed through the factory door a couple of months before he graduated from high school. He’s a lucky guy…

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Ciro Castro

Ciro is working full time as an Electrical Engineer and is the son of a Sport pilot. He became a Private Pilot as a way of saving precious time when traveling long distances and meeting new places. It turned out, for him, that flying is the best combination of addiction and therapy, the moment he expects anxiously the whole week, and he simply loves to see the happy faces of his passengers as they get off his good old C172N. It was a 10 year journey until he passed his exams, then over 40 hours of taildragger fun until cleared for his first solo flight. Worth every second.

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Ben Chapman

Ben Chapman is a college student in nutrition and environmental sustainability. He aims to make the world a healthier, happier place through public policies to improve childhood nutrition. In his childhood, he played baseball and soccer, but primarily focused on his classical ballet training, which gave him opportunities to dance in San Francisco and Chicago. Besides writing on Medium, he enjoys making model airplanes, exercising, and writing music. He has written on a broad range of topics such as meditation, voting reform, and animal ethics.

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Greg Chestnut

Greg is a Colorado native with a passion for adventure and new things. He has a beautiful wife that he’s been married to for 14 wonderful years, a 13-year old daughter and an 11-year old son. With his brother, he owns a contract glass company in the Denver area and has sister companies on the western slope of Colorado and in Colorado Springs. Greg is always on the go with his family, riding ATVs, playing hockey, or being a taxi service for the kids’ activities. Other non-aviation activities are hunting, golf, shooting, photography and camping. As far as flying goes, Greg has about 160 hours, ASEL instrument rated with a mountain flying checkout. He received his flight training through Aspen Flying Club at Centennial Airport (KAPA). Their instructors and staff are awesome and their fleet now has grown to impressive numbers.

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Wayne Cochrane

An administrative law judge in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Wayne Cochrane has been a private pilot since 1975. He bought a Piper Cherokee 140 in 1980, intending to keep it for a couple of years. He still has it, in a hangar at the wonderful Debert airport, from which WWII RAF and RCAF pilots once learned to fly Hudsons and Mosquitos – and a student pilot is said to have once accidentally happened upon, and attacked, a German submarine. His favorite flying memories include: a moon rise suddenly illuminating Maine’s Mount Katahdin above a cloud deck on a 600 mile night flight from Ottawa to Halifax; a low level flight along the length of Cape Cod at sunrise; the wonderful, remote, waterfalls of Labrador; and landing at Oshkosh. He’s accumulated more than 400 volumes of aviation autobiographies.

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Richard L. Collins

For over 50 years, pilots turned to Richard L. Collins for his unique perspective on the challenges and rewards of flying light aircraft. He started his career working with his father, Leighton Collins, at the original Air Facts magazine. He then went on to work for the leading aviation magazines, including as editor of both AOPA Pilot and Flying. With over 20,000 hours of real world experience, much of it in Cessna 172s and P210s, Collins wrote about safety, weather and air traffic control from first-hand experience. He was the author of numerous books, including Logbooks, published in 2016 by Sporty’s Pilot Shop. Collins passed away in April, 2018.

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Tom Comet

Since early on, Tom had a keen interest in flying, innovation and technology, so an aviation and drone/UAV based career path has been the perfect fit for him. Tom has been piloting drones since 2012 and obtained his UAV Ground School certification soon after that. To be just a little different from everyone else, Tom went from drones to piloting real aircraft and obtained his private pilot’s license (PPL) in 2015. Since then he has gone on to earn his multi-engine license and is studying hard towards his full instrument and commercial flight ratings. Tom is the proud owner of a 1977 Cessna 337G, which he uses to transport his drone teams and equipment to and from job sites and to get the “big picture” in aviation. These days Tom is happiest building custom camera rigs in the shop, flying whatever he can get his hands on, and shooting stunning photos and video using available technologies.

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Alan Connor

Alan Connor achieved a life-long dream of becoming a private pilot in 2008 at the age of 36. He holds an airplane SEL certificate and is “this close” to taking his instrument check ride. He most often flies a Mooney M20 owned by a flying club that he helped form. Alan resides in Charlottesville, Virginia and is the CEO of a medical device manufacturing company.

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Jeff Copeland

Jeff Copeland is a lover of all things aviation from C-152 to C-130, Cub to King Air. He is an Air Force T-1A instructor pilot, active general aviation pilot, sometime historian, and full-time husband and father of three. He is an aviation blogger who writes about general aviation, military aviation, and the intersection of both. Visit his blog at www.thrustandvector.com.

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Phillip Cowart

Phillip Cowart is a 15-year veteran of the US Air Force, flying as a navigator on the C-130, specializing in formation low-level and airdrop operations and remotely piloting large and small unmanned aircraft, hunting down enemies of freedom and afterwards driving home to sleep in his own bed. He is currently serving in the Air National Guard in Oklahoma City as a combat systems officer. As a CFI he enjoys introducing aspiring aviators to flying every chance he can get. His goal is to pass along the joy of flying to his three children and convince his wife that buying an airplane is a great idea.

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Bill Cox

In high school, Bill traded work as a lineboy for flying time in a J-3 before completing US Air Force primary training at Marana, Arizona, and jets at Webb AFB Big Spring, Texas. He earned his instructor rating at Craig AFB, then instructed students in the Lockheed T-33 in formation, instruments, and acrobatics earning their wings. After discharge, Bill defended civil lawsuits 54 years. He has flown Cessnas, Mooneys, Pipers, biplanes, sailplanes and ultralights. He authored “Kick the Tires, Light the Fire,” then “Flying Machines,” dealing with the results of failing to follow the rules or mistakes he made in the air. He has logged 900 jet hours and 2,300 prop hours.

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Elliott Cox

Elliott Cox is an A&P/IA, the Director of Maintenance, and a pilot for a Charlotte, NC-based corporate flight department that operates a Dassault Falcon 900LX. He’s happily married to a wonderful woman, has four children, and loves to write when the dust settles. You can find him at L.Elliott_Cox on Instagram or on his website, TheWritingFlyer.com.

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Tim Crawford

Tim started his career in aerospace engineering supporting military and commercial freight carriers. This career provided a way for him to get his airplane fix until he and his wife became small business owners and he no longer had the opportunity to be around airplanes. He decided it was time to get into the cockpit. Since this transition, he regularly flies a Diamond DA40 in pursuit of his PPC. Although he is an older student of aviation, Tim embraces the idea that a good pilot is always learning. So, aren’t we all student pilots essentially?

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Bob Crystal

Bob Crystal is a professional Certified Flight Instructor and corporate pilot with type ratings in the Citation 500-525CJ-560XL and Beechjet 400XP. He was awarded the flight instructor of the year in the FAA Western Region 1997 and 2007. He has been a member of the FAASTeam since 1980, as well as a keynote speaker specializing in advanced airmanship, CRM and risk management. Bob is also an instructor in airplanes and simulators for the American Bonanza Society and regional airline training center. As a technical writer, he has written advanced airmanship articles for Twin &Turbine, Plane & Pilot, IFR Refresher, and BPPP magazines.

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Robbie Culver

Robbie Culver is an instrument rated private pilot, flying under sport pilot privileges. He has made more than 3000 skydives, many with multiple cameras on his helmet, and has over 1000 hours PIC in single engine aircraft. He has owned a 1966 Cessna 150F, a 1973 Piper Cherokee 140, and is the builder and pilot of Sonex 1517. An active participant in aviation since 1984, he and his wife Brenda live in Naperville, IL, with their son and two rescued dogs. He bases his Sonex at the Aurora Municipal airport (KARR).

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Tom Curran

Tom’s unique aviation career began at Spurling Aviation on Seattle’s Boeing Field. After earning his Private Pilot certificate, he headed east to Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), to pursue the rest of his ratings and an aviation-themed degree. Upon passing his CFI check ride, he was hired to teach in FIT’s flight program. After college, he worked as an airport planner while continuing to teach “on the side”. Along with several master plans, his projects included Alaska’s first Aviation System Plan, and the initial design for Telluride Regional Airport (KTEX). Tom was eventually selected for USAF pilot training, graduating in 1986 at the top of his class. Becoming one of only a handful chosen to fly fighters and bombers, he served as an Instructor and Evaluator in the F-15C and B-1B. His adventures included tours in Europe, Japan, and Alaska, along with deployments to the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia. His “day jobs” included Commander of a B-1B squadron, Director of a NATO Air Operations Center, and Deputy Commander of the DoD‘s Joint Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence. Post-USAF, Tom traveled extensively as a contract instructor for AOPA’s Air Safety Institute. He currently holds ATP, CFI, and Comm SES ratings, and lives in Gig Harbor, WA.

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Fredrick Danielson

Fredrick Danielson is a general aviation enthusiast who received his private pilot license in 2006. His love for aviation stemmed from a “behind the scenes tour” of a Chicago air show that afforded him the opportunity to take his first SEL flight from the former Meigs Field (KCGX) of Chicago. Since the first flight, Fredrick has been pursuing opportunities to remain airborne and enjoys sharing his love of aviation with others.

See all articles by Fredrick Danielson

 

 

Parvez Dara

Parvez Dara is an Airline Transport-rated pilot with a 7-time Master CFII rating and a Gold Seal designation. He is an Officer at the MAPA Safety Foundation, which conducts Pilot Proficiency Programs across the United States. He is also an Officer for the S.A.F.E. (Society of Aviators and Flight Educators) Organization. Parvez volunteers as a FAA Safety Team Representative and was honored with CFI of the year for the EA-17 Region in 2006 and as the region’s Safety Team Representative of the year for 2017. He writes about Flight Safety. Parvez is a Medical Hematologist/Oncologist with an MBA degree.

See all articles by Parvez Dara

 

 

Bill David

Bill grew up building and flying model airplanes, and still does. His first job in aviation was a line boy at Colts Neck airport in New Jersey. He started instructing in 1975, and is an ATP and CFIAMEIIG, along with several jet type ratings. Bill holds a low level aerobatic waiver, and is a commercial hot air balloon pilot. He has been making his living flying something for over 40 years. When he’s not flying a jet, Bill is at the airport building an airplane or giving instruction in a Pietenpol Aircamper. In short, he is an airplane nut.

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Jim David

Jim took his first flight lesson on his 15th birthday, but didn’t finish his PPL until his early 20s when he owned a 1/3 share of a Piper Cherokee 180 with his dad and his brother. After getting married he took a 25-year sabbatical from flying until his two children were through college. He got current in 2015 and joined Sky-Vu Flyers flying club where he now owns equity in 5 airplanes. Jim flies about 150 hours per year, has earned his instrument rating, CPL and is working on his CFI.

See all articles by Jim David

 

 

Randy Davis

Randall H. Davis is Senior Vice President & General Counsel of Phoenix Air Group, Inc., a worldwide provider of specialized jet aircraft services to Government and Industry. He holds ATP and CFI Certificates, with ratings for ASEL, AMEL, ASES, Rotorcraft/Helicopter, Learjet, Citation 500 and Gulfstream/II/IIII. Phoenix Air operates more than 30 turbine aircraft, primarily Gulfstreams and Learjets. Its special mission work over the years has included movement of explosives and animals, electronic warfare training to military forces, and complex international air ambulance movements (the company still has the only aircraft capable of moving Ebola and highly infected or contagious patients).

See all articles by Randy Davis

 

 

Jerry Deanda

Jerry mostly grew up in Goleta, CA, learning to fly at the local Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (KSBA) in the early seventies, while still in high school. Since then, he’s amassed an A&P certificate, a seaplane rating and 1300 hours of flight time in about 30 types. He’s worked in aviation in a variety of technical roles, from line maintenance to running a two-man shop doing heavy maintenance, modifications, fabric work and restorations, and a stint with a major defense company. Now retired, he and his wife Dianne base a Vans RV-6 at Santa Paula Airport (KSZP.)

See all articles by Jerry Deanda

 

 

Brian De Camp

Brian De Camp is a private pilot and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Born in Fremont, California, he has been in love with aviation since he was nine years old. At the age of 15, he began taking flying lessons and received a private pilot license during his first semester in college. Currently he is working as a Flight Operations Representative at one of the flight schools he learned to fly out of while he goes through the application process to become an officer in the United States Navy. In his free time, he enjoys reading, writing, volunteering at a local aviation museum, and, of course, flying to stay current and proficient.

See all articles by Brian De Camp

 

 

Frank Del Vecchio

Frank spent his childhood in a low-income immigrant neighborhood in Boston, then attended Tufts College as a recipient of a Navy ROTC scholarship. He was a student aviator then a flight instructor at Pensacola and a Fighter Squadron VF-14 pilot flying McDonnell F3H-2N “Demons” off the USS Roosevelt. He then attended Harvard Law School and was a reservist in a Douglas A4B “Skyhawk” attack squadron. In addition, Frank was director of community renewal projects in Charlestown, MA, and Washington, DC, in the turbulent civil rights era.

See all articles by Frank Del Vecchio

 

 

Jim Densmore

Jim Densmore is an SEL and glider pilot, Cessna 180/185 (Type) Club Regional Director and Chief Tow Pilot for High Flights Soaring from Colorado Springs, Colorado. To support his flying habit, he is a software engineering consultant and Principal Agile coach for his day job. He is happily married to Linda, the half-owner of his 1956 Cessna 180. His parents bought his 180 in 1960, so Jim pretty much grew up in the airplane. Jim hopes to be ADS-B-equipped some day.

See all articles by Jim Densmore

 

 

John DiLorenzo

John has had an interest in flying from a young age, getting up early with excitement to watch the Saturn V launches, the moon landings and Neil Armstrong step foot onto the moon. He never pursued his dream of flying until 2008 at the age of 49. With encouragement from his wife, brother, family and friends, he decided he didn’t want to look back and say “I wish I would have.” He immediately called the local FBO and scheduled his first flight and was hooked. A change in job, job responsibilities and aircraft availability all have limited his time to work on an instrument rating, but he believes now is the time to finish it. After that maybe a commercial rating, a certified flight instructor, or who knows – the sky is the limit.

See all articles by John DiLorenzo

 

 

Mario Donick

Mario Donick was born 1981 in northern Germany, near the Baltic Sea, and now has a PhD in communication studies. For many years, he was only using flight simulations, about which Mario also writes reviews, tutorials and manuals for FS MAGAZIN (German bi-monthly print magazine). He does freelance work for simulation add-on developers, supports customers in this field, and provides independent research on the perception of simulations and games, currently mainly related to virtual reality and flight simulation. His real aviation career started in 2017, when he finally – despite his fear of flying – decided to go for an ultralight license.

See all articles by Mario Donick

 

 

Lawrence Drake

Lawrence Drake was born and raised in Montana, and has lived all over the U.S. In his early years, he worked as a flight instructor, agricultural pilot, aerobatic instructor, and FBO owner/operator. He has been a pilot for most of his life, owning and flying a variety of sport and private aircraft including a Stearman, Pitts, Cubs, Champs, and several amateur built planes. He has been published in dozens of periodicals, written industry-related books, and penned a monthly international newsletter. At age seventy-one, his latest memoir, Schellville, captures those adventure-filled days.

See all articles by Lawrence Drake

 

 

Ed Dray

After four years in the US Air Force, Ed learned to fly in a Cessna 150, flying from a grass strip on a farm near Gorin, Missouri. He earned his Private Pilot’s License on July 1st, 1973. Ed flew as a Flight Instructor, Charter Pilot, Commuter Airline Pilot, and then Chief Pilot for a corporation. He went to work for Flight Safety International as a Simulator Instructor and later became a Type Rating Examiner. Ed retired in 2006 with more than 18,000 hours of flight time. He recently published his first book, “My Journey to the Clouds”, describing the adventures and misadventures of his career as a pilot.

See all articles by Ed Dray

 

 

Jeff Edwards

Jeff Edwards served in the United States Navy as bombardier/navigator flying A-6 Intruders aboard the USS John F. Kennedy with VA-34 and VA-176 aboard the USS Forrestal. He was an aircraft accident investigator with the U.S. Naval Safety Center and later for McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, where he investigated military and civil aircraft accidents around the world. His Ph.D. is in Aviation. Jeff holds an ATP certificate and is a former FAA DPE. Jeff is the 2003 National Flight Instructor of the Year. He currently serves as a subject matter expert for the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee.

See all articles by Jeff Edwards

 

 

Carl Eisen

Carl started his aviation career as a line boy in 1977. An A300 Captain with 30 plus years, he’s like the fisherman who goes fishing on his days off. Also an A&P mechanic, Carl has owned 7 different aircraft over the past 30 years. His current plane is a 1979 Cessna T182RG. Carl took a year off in 2007 to deal with stress issues and returned to work after discovering Mindfulness Meditation. He completed a UCLA program in 2016 to become a Mindfulness Facilitator specializing in teaching meditation to pilots for stress reduction, improving attention and focus and resilience. Free instruction for basic meditation (that pilots can relate to) is available on his website www.mindfulaviator.com.

See all articles by Carl Eisen

 

 

Mark Fay

Mark Fay owns a software and consulting company that helps property and casualty insurance claim departments. He didn’t start flying until he was 49 years old. Most trips are for business meetings at least one state away. He flies a 1979 Cessna TR182. The aircraft is a turbo normalized retractable 182 with a service ceiling of 20,000 feet and a cruise speed of 165 knots at 13 gph in the mid teens. It is equipped with a Stormscope, S-tec 55 autopilot, Active Traffic, and a Garmin GNS 480, as well as ForeFlight with Synthetic Vision. He is an avid fan of Air Facts and Mr. Collins, having read his last four books at least ten times.

See all articles by Mark Fay

 

 

William F. Fox

Bill took his very first airplane ride in a Piper J-3 in 1947, sitting on his father’s lap in the back seat. He had a lot of backseat time in Hueys, Chinooks, and L-19s in the Army and eventually, in 1966, soloed in a Piper Tri-Pacer in Albuquerque, NM. Since then, his flying has been sporadic and not very well structured. He did 10 hours of aerobatic training in Santa Fe, some interesting cross-country flying out of Addison, Texas, and logged twin-engine time in a Piper Seminole over the Everglades in Florida. He used to teach part-time at the University of Dundee, Scotland, and did some flying there between classes, including a few hours in an Aerobat (he may be one of the very few regular readers of Air Facts who has flown upside down over northern Scotland!). But age has caught up with Bill. He no longer has a medical so he puts in a lot of time in his simulator.

See all articles by William F. Fox

 

 

Sarah Fritts

Sarah is dedicated to helping aviators get better at their craft. Sarah is a West Point graduate and Army combat aviator. She flew the OH-58D during the invasion of Iraq in ’03. She also flew C-12s in Afghanistan in 2013. She currently flies the King Air 350 full time out of the Portland International Airport. In her spare time she flies the LUH-72 for the National Guard. She recently wrote a book called The Instrument Pilot’s Survival Guide. You can find more of her work on her website: ThinkAviation.net

See all articles by Sarah Fritts

 

 

Craig Gallenbach

Craig is a typical “airplane kid” of his generation who turned a model airplane hobby into a full-scale airplane hobby when he earned his private pilot license in 1981. In over 35 years of flying he has acquired over 2,000 hours of flying time in a several different aircraft. He currently flies an RV8A that he completed in 2008. He is a retired engineer and currently lives in a residential fly-in community just outside of Fayetteville, NC.

See all articles by Craig Gallenbach

 

 

Dave Gampfer

Dave Gampfer graduated from the aviation program at The Ohio State University, and began what is now a 35-year career in the aviation insurance industry as an underwriter, salesman, and broker. He holds a Commercial ticket, and has owned several airplanes over the years. At present, he begs, borrows, and rents while incessantly scanning Trade-A-Plane. He is a confirmed airport bum, spending a large chunk of every weekend holding down a chair at the Warren County Airport in Ohio.

See all articles by Dave Gampfer

 

 

Geoff Gartshore

Geoff Gartshore is a private pilot living in Waterloo, Ontario, with his wife Barbara. They have 3 adult sons – David, Stephen and Daniel. He has logged more than 775 hours in a variety of aircraft (Cessna 172, Luscombe, Katana DA20), and an X Air Hanuman Advanced Ultralight that he has owned since 2009.

See all articles by Geoff Gartshore

 

 

David Godfrey

David started his private pilot training in 1981 but did not complete this rating until 1991, all in Prince George, BC, which is very near the geographic center of the province. Soon after he flew 200 hours, he enrolled in commercial training at Boundary Bay/Vancouver. The reason being is that any significant trip goes over the Coastal Mountains or Rocky Mountains and most often he had my children and wife on board – which is pretty precious cargo. David’s first 1,000 hours was on a Cessna 182 and at the end he enrolled in IFR training again at Boundary Bay. He has had his IFR rating for around 10 years now and sold the 182 and bought a 1975 Beech Bonanza V35B. He now has just shy of 2,000 hours and still loves flying and especially loves doing full procedures in the Bonanza. Getting his pilot license is one of the best things he has done in his lifetime and he never tires of cross-country trips – which extends into his work as a real estate appraiser.

See all articles by David Godfrey

 

 

Jose Gonzalez

Jose Ignacio learned to fly at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) in the city of Chamblee, a northern Atlanta suburb in 2005, and two years later earned his instrument rating at the same school. He grew up in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where he caught the flying fever when he rode along on an instructional flight with a childhood friend and his father. A failed attempt later while studying Management at Purdue, made him table the dream until life, marriage, and kids allowed. At 63 and 700+ hours and counting, the dream is for more expensive toys.

See all articles by Jose Gonzalez

 

 

Michael Gordon

Michael Jarrette Gordon was born in 1927. He joined the CAP as a teenager, then the US Army. He retired after more than 20 years and was then with World Aviation, Exxon Mobil, before retiring again. He is familiar with almost all national and international airports along with some “bush” airfields notable in the world – ask him about flying Alaska, Libya, South America and Africa. Michael received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot’s Award for 50 years flying with a perfect safety record.

See all articles by Michael Gordon

 

 

Shane Gorman

Shane got his private in January of 1969 while stationed at Ft. Carson, CO. He was not a military pilot, he just took advantage of a program the Army offered to learn to fly at the base airport. He now has 2400 hours total time with 450 of those hours as a CFI. Shane also has 122 hours in gliders and worked for two seasons as a tow pilot. He currently owns a Cessna 172XP based in Carson City, Nevada, and now lives in Reno.

See all articles by Shane Gorman

 

 

Brian Graham-Moore

Brian Graham-Moore, 78, currently has 1,200 hours as a SEL private pilot. He and his pilot wife, Robin, fly a 1997 Cessna 172R. After acquiring 82 hours in gliders, he transitioned to powered flight in 1989. After 31 years of teaching and research, Brian is now an Emeritus Professor of The University of Texas at Austin. Their home airport is at Smithville, TX (84R).

See all articles by Brian Graham-Moore

 

 

Rold Grandstaff

Rolf Grandstaff currently owns an experimental Zenith 601 that he has hangared at Fuquay/Angier (78NC) with the Kennebec Flying Club. The club has a grass airstrip with an eclectic mix of airmen and aircraft born and built anywhere from about 1935 and up. Rolf caught the aviation bug at a young age from his dad who had served with the Army Air Force during WWII. This malady was further aggravated when Rolf served with the Marine Air Wing (MAG-12) in Vietnam. He is looking forward to retirement within the year and spending as much time flying as his wife Katrina and their budget will let him.

See all articles by Rolf Grandstaff

 

 

Steve Green

Steven D. Green started flying at age 14, and soloed on his 16th birthday in 1972 off runway 9R at Palm Beach International. He began his airline career flying a Convair 240 for Providence Airlines around the Great Lakes, then flew Metroliners up and down the east coast through the 80s and then all over the world for TWA, Eos and American. Beginning in 1986, he participated in numerous aircraft accident investigations as a representative of the Air Line Pilots Association, including TWA 800. Association with the 1994 Roselawn accident involving Simmons 4184 led to work with ALPA’s Inflight Icing Certification Project, as well as the Ice Protection Harmonization Working Group ARAC. He has remained involved with aircraft icing issues, writing a number of papers on the topic and continuing to serve as a consultant to the FAA. He and his wife have lived in Vermont for 27 years, and have two grown sons. He is currently a Boeing 737 captain.

See all articles by Steve Green

 

 

Richard Gregory

Like many other pilots, Richard caught the flying “bug” from his dad, who was a private pilot for many years. He was a private pilot, and he has been flying regularly since earning his Private Pilot Certificate in May of 2001. He lives in Greenville, NC, and flies out of Tradewind Aviation International flight school, in New Bern, NC (KEWN). Richard mostly flies with his son, Brendan – who is a great co-pilot – and they enjoy flying over the coast of North Carolina. Brendan loves to fly, and one day he would love to be a pilot too! Professionally, Richard has been practicing medicine as a Physician Assistant (PA-C) for the past 18 years.

See all articles by Richard Gregory

 

 

James (Jim) Griffith

Jim obtained a private pilot’s license in 1955 through the Royal Canadian Air Cadet scholarship program, his RCAF wings under the NATO Flying Training program in 1958 and joined Trans Canada Airlines (Air Canada) in 1959 until retirement in 1997.Throughout his professional career and beyond he was a member of several recreational aviation organizations and was a founding member of the Aerial Experiment Association, (AEA 2005 Inc.) that built a flying replica of Alexander Graham Bell’s Silver Dart for Canada’s Hundredth Anniversary of Flight in 2009. Jim has accumulated 20,000 hours on recreational, military and airline aircraft.

See all articles by Jim Griffith

 

 

Ralph Grigg

Maj. Ralph Grigg, USAF (Ret), spent 20 years in the Air Force, with over 1200 combat sorties. He received the Air Medal with nine oak leaf clusters. He is an ATP, CFI, MEI, and CFII with over 8600 hours total time in 34 different models, including the Boeing 737, Stratocruiser, Convair line, Sabreliner, DC-4, and King Air. He was previously a Civil Air Patrol Squadron Commander and Chairman of the UZA Airport Commission. He is now a corporate pilot and contract pilot.

See all articles by Ralph Grigg

 

 

Joe Grimes

As a child, Joe only had incidental exposure to aviation. In his senior year of college, his best friend went into USAF pilot training. Aviating sounded good and soon Joe was flying in the USAF Reserve. Way too soon that tour ended and he was in the real world working as an engineer. Fifteen years later as owner of an engineering business he bought N5332A, a 1957 Cessna 310, for business travel. Fourteen years and 3,000 hours later, Joe and ’32A are better than ever. Favorite flights include missions for Angel Flight South Central’s North Texas Wing.

See all articles by Joe Grimes

 

 

Tom Gumbrecht

Tom Gumbrecht is a lifelong resident of Long Island, NY, an area rich in aviation history. A Private Pilot at age 20, he is currently holding off a sedentary senior citizenship by running a construction trade business and a small horse farm, and occasionally flying rotorcraft from the right seat. He has enough tales of flying fixed wing aircraft in the 70s and 80s to hold his grandson’s interest, and is more than happy to enlighten anyone who will listen about the strength of character which aviation training built and how it has benefited his personal and professional life.

See all articles by Tom Gumbrecht

 

 

Mike Hackney

Mike is a business executive by day in the food industry and a new, if older, pilot, every possible hour when not at work. He started flight instruction in 2015 and got his SEL license in early 2016. He currently owns a Tecnam P2008 and does regular cross country flights between homes and work in Chicago (KGYY), Nashville (KMQY), and Oklahoma City (KSRE), and wherever his wife wants to go. A former Army Infantry officer, Mike has written for a variety of defense publications as well as BMW related magazines, and is also a published novelist.

See all articles by Mike Hackney

 

 

George Hamilton

George’s introduction to flying began at an early age. He went with his father to a nearby grass airport in Eastern Ohio to watch a Twin Beech during its low pass hook the air mail bag from the line suspended between two poles. This was the Pony Express of the late 1940s. His flight instruction began as a student at The Ohio State University; Cessna 150 N19OSU. He made it through a cold, snowy winter nine weeks in 1963. His last flying was also at Ohio State as an instructor in the University’s Flight Training Clinic. After his ASEL Private, George added the commercial, instrument then flight instructors, CFII. MEL and ATP followed later. His flying was never an occupation however always a devoted avocation. George flew through 2200 something hours.

See all articles by George Hamilton

 

 

Beau Harper

Beau Harper grew up in Memphis, TN, watching FedEx planes fly low over his house every day and night. He has wanted to fly for as long as he can remember. After starting flying in 1997, he finally earned his Private Pilot certificate in 2012 after years of off-and-on training. Now actively training for his Instrument and Commercial licenses, he looks forward to earning his CFI to teach others to experience the joy of aviation. He lives in Decatur, GA, and flies out of Dekalb-Peachtree Airport (KPDK) with the support of his wonderful wife who occasionally enjoys being his co-pilot.

See all articles by Beau Harper

 

 

Dave Harris

Dave Harris is a retired airline pilot from a major US airline. He is a product of the modern airline industry and his airline background includes flying for Bonanza Airlines, Air West Airlines, Hughes Air West Airlines, Republic Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines. Dave attended the University of Illinois studying business administration. He is a Vietnam veteran and flew the Army U1A (single engine Otter) in Nam. Dave started flying at 15 and soloed 3 days after turning 16. He got his Commercial and Flight Instructor tickets and taught in general aviation for 6 years before getting his Army Commission in 1965. Dave had a heart attack in 1985, ending his active airline pilot career. He continued in the airline industry for the next 10 years and designed, implemented, and taught Crew Resource Management as a consultant for the last 10 years of his career, consulting with numerous airlines, including Republic, United, Alaska, U.S. Air Force C5 and C9, Pan Am, Delta, Comair, American Trans Air and several small regional carriers. Dave and Nancy, his wife of 56 years live in Boise, Idaho.

See all articles by Dave Harris

 

 

Tony Harrison

Tony Harrison was introduced to aviation by his father – an aviation photographer in the 60s. His passion for aviation is only matched by his love for his wife, children and grandchildren. He holds a Commercial license and an Instrument Rating. Tony loves nothing more than jumping into the Vans RV-10 that he part owns and travelling Australia, sharing aviation with as many people as he can. Left to achieve in aviation? Fly behind a turbine engine and get some stick time on a DC-3. When not flying he works in software design for a children’s charity, but is always thinking of the next trip to Bankstown airport (YSBK) to fly again.

See all articles by Tony Harrison

 

 

Rob Haynes

Rob Haynes grew up and learned to fly in Amarillo, Texas, establishing his career with charter, corporate and bank mail flying. This was followed by airline experience at American, Nigeria Airways, and for the last 36 years at Southwest Airlines, where he has served as a Check Airman, Chief Pilot, and Director of Flight Standards. He is currently enjoying flying the line as a Captain. He has owned and operated a flight school and charter business, owning several airplanes along the way. He enjoys sharing the romance and nostalgia of aviation with his pilot-wife Kathy, daughter of aviation author Len Morgan.

See all articles by Rob Haynes

 

 

Hunter Heath

Hunter Heath is an endocrinologist, medical school professor, and medical researcher now retired in Indianapolis, who was licensed in the early 1980s and only recently retired from flying as PIC. He was fortunate to train with career CFIs who were veterans of the WWII CPT program, one of whom flew P-38s. Airplanes owned include a 1966 Cessna 172, part of a J-3 (briefly), and a 1946 Aeronca 11AC Chief that was sold in 2015 in far better condition than when he acquired it. He has a long involvement with the EAA, including founding and chairing the EAA Aeromedical Advisory Council and publishing extensively in Sport Aviation and To Fly. Writing, photography, music, and travel help fill the void left by the absence of aircraft ownership and independent flight. His heart still accelerates and his eyes rise to the heavens at the sound of a round engine.

See all articles by Hunter Heath

 

 

Phil Hertel

Phil discovered the beauty and poetry of flight in his pre-teens playing with balsa model airplanes while growing up in Louisville, Kentucky. A creative person who embraces change, he is a student, teacher, life-long learner, 7,000 hour working pilot, flight and ground instructor, and has a strong interest in improving safety as it relates to training, human factors, design, and the human-machine interface. He holds a commercial pilot certificate with ASMEL-Instrument, Helicopter, and Glider ratings, an Advanced and Instrument Ground Instructor certificate, and an FAA Gold Seal Certificated Flight Instructor certificate with ASMEL and Instrument ratings. His logbook shows more than 2,200 hours of dual instruction given. He is currently studying in preparation to add the Glider category rating to his CFI-I certificate. As a successful inventor, designer, and small business owner, he holds one patent and is currently working on several more which will form the basis for his next new business.

See all articles by Phil Hertel

 

 

James Hicks

James (“Judge”) Hicks is neither lawyer nor judge, but acquired his nickname from his grandfather namesake. He is a retired colonel in the Army Reserve and a semi-retired academic anesthesiologist and active pilot of 57 years with 3300 hours. He holds an airline transport rating and CFI with instrument and multiengine ratings. His long-term love affair with his T210N sadly ended in 2007 when he sold it amidst tears – and recently contacted its current owner and assured himself of its continued health. He lives in Oregon City, Oregon, and is still looking for new partners for another T210.

See all articles by James Hicks

 

 

Ben Holloway

Ben is a 38-old private pilot with an instrument rating. He considers himself a relatively new pilot: he got his private certificate in 2012 and his instrument in 2014. He does most of his flying around the Gulf Coast; he’s a flatland pilot. Ben is a chemical engineer by day which provides the means to fly, and he has two children, 12 and 19. He bought a 1965 PA-32 which he used to get his instrument rating and uses to fly around. He has flown to Oshkosh twice, in 2015 and 2016. He says it is quite interesting to be awoken to the roar of jets and WWII fighters at 6am every morning.

See all articles by Ben Holloway

 

 

Jonathan Holtzman

Jonathan Holtzman is a New York City based writer, pilot and General Aviation enthusiast who also volunteers his time with the Civil Air Patrol. Jonathan got his private pilot license in the glorious old days when Teterboro airport was still open to GA and has since acquired his instrument rating. Jonathan Holds a Bachelors Degree from Columbia University in Literature and a graduate degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, where he studied Shakespeare in performance. Jonathan is also an avid SCUBA diver, fisherman, hunter and all around outdoor adventurer. He generally loathes talking about himself in the third person:-)

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John Hosking

John was born in Minnesota and has had a love affair with the north country all his life. While working for the Minnesota DNR, he had the opportunity to ride with Bob Hodges, a flying game warden, in a float-equipped Cessna 180. They were working out of Ely, Minnesota, and cruised around the BWCA for a look see. It was a life changing experience for John – he just had to fly floats. The access to the back country was too compelling. He decided to make a full time career out of aviation while working as a flight instructor, and was lucky enough to land a job in Alaska flying for a hunting and fishing outfitter. That lasted 10 years flying Super Cubs, C180/185s, Beavers, and Otters. Next John went into flying big airplanes, namely Douglas DC-6s and Boeing 727s, all over the state of Alaska and even in the Lower 48. He says he wouldn’t change a thing.

See all articles by John Hosking

 

 

Ken Howell

Ken Howell first soloed in 1957 in an Aeronca 7AC. After leaving the Air Force in 1960 he obtained his Private Pilot license and began to work on his advanced ratings. In the next four years he gained his Commercial, CFI, Multi-engine and Instrument ratings and started his life-time avocation as a part time Flight Instructor. He added his Multi-engine Instructor and ATP ratings in 1977. In addition to flight instructing he has flown Part 135 Charter and Corporate Operations. He also holds Private Pilot licenses in Germany, the UK and Australia. Ken always had an interest in warbirds and has had the opportunity to fly the Vultee BT-13, Ryan PT-22, and the North American AT-6 and P-51D.

See all articles by Ken Howell

 

 

Kim Hunter

Kim Hunter is a 2000-hour commercial pilot. He learned to fly at an airport outside Detroit in the 1960’s but was too young to solo. Soon thereafter, h shifted his financial priorities toward the fair sex and soloing got delayed by thirty years. Today he flies occasionally for business but mostly for pleasure. And, yes, he finally obtained an instrument rating.

See all articles by Kim Hunter

 

 

Emma Hutchinson

Emma Hutchinson is a 3/C midshipman at the United States Naval Academy pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in English. She earned her Private Pilot’s License in 2017 and flies during her leave from school and military obligations. She is a member of the USNA cycling team, paints in her free time, and writes daily. She is the second oldest of five children and believes her family to be her greatest support and motivation. Emma desires to fly helicopters for the Marine Corps upon her commissioning, a goal of which she knows her grandfather, Ronald Hutchinson, would be proud.

See all articles by Emma Hutchinson

 

 

William Ippolito

William Ippolito attended Long Beach City College, majoring in music, but dropped out in 1958 after his first flight solo to pursue a career in aviation. He was hired by Delta Air Lines in 1963, as co-pilot and flight engineer on the DC-6, DC-7, and DC-8. In 1969 he was promoted to Captain flying the DC-9, Lockheed L100 (Hercules), B-727, B-757, B-767, and the Lockheed L1011 Tristar. After retirement, he wrote a memoir titled “Leaving On A Jet Plane,” and sailed six of the Seven Seas. He completed construction in 2016 of an experimental RV-12, that he is currently flying.

See all articles by William Ippolito

 

 

Scott Jackson

With a Father in the RCAF, Scott was raised a “PMQ Brat” at several airbases on the Canadian Prairies and in Germany. While in high school, he was a member of 418 (City of Edmonton) Air Reserve Squadron and he used that work experience to get hired with Air Canada Line Maintenance in Vancouver. Working steady midnights and learning to fly during the days for the next three years, Scott was very fortunate to be hired into Flight Operations with minimum time. Retiring in 2010 after 41 years as Line Pilot, Instructor Pilot and Check Pilot, and having enjoyed flying the DC-8 and -9, Boeing 747/727/767/777 and Airbus 320/330/340 plus the fabulous Lockheed TriStar, he also owned a string of airplanes, beginning with a Clipped-Wing Cub, a self-built Pitts Special, a Skyhawk and a Turbo Centurion. He now owns a Cardinal (his wife’s Lunch Buggy) and a slow-built RV-6, as well as co-owned a Twin Comanche. Ten years ago, he earned his Instructor Rating and, after teaching three of his four children, is now instructing out of Skyquest Aviation in Langley, British Columbia and residing in nearby Ocean Park with his wife (who thought there would be less “Airplane Days” after he retired).

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Jeff Jacobs

Jeff Jacobs soloed at the age of sixteen, and earned his private pilot’s license at seventeen. He worked his way through college as a flight instructor at Long Beach, California. Flying was an important adjunct to his 40-year career as an attorney in California, Washington and Oregon. He has owned a succession of airplanes, including a Cherokee, Cessna 150, Grumman-American Cheetah, Beech Bonanza, CubCrafters Sport Cub, and currently a Cessna 172. Retired from the practice of law but not from flying, Jeff and his wife of 43 years now reside in Arizona.

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Shyam Jha

Shyam Jha is a CFI/CFII, and Cirrus SR22 owner based in Tucson, AZ. A pilot since 1992, he teaches at Cirrus Pilot Proficiency Seminars, and FAA Safety seminars. He is also a management consultant to startups and Fortune 500 corporations. Earlier, he was an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management. He has lived and worked in 5 countries in Asia and Europe before making the US his home. He is an electrical engineer with an MBA, and has worked at executive levels in international corporations.

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John Karasek

John got the bug to fly from his father, who was a bomber pilot in WWII. In 1979 he attended METI in Texas starting his flight training and then a tropical depression washed out the school, causing him to finish his training in the Tulsa area. He worked on ratings over the years and finally finished up with an ATP. Now he flies for a company in the Tulsa area.

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Chuck Johnes

Chuck Johnes was born and raised on the Central Coast of California. He has always had an interest in aircraft. His grandparents were both pilots and flew an SNJ, a BT-13, and an Ercoupe. Chuck recently retired from the California Highway Patrol, where he conducted weapons and range instruction. Chuck has approximately 30 hours on his way to his private pilot license. His ultimate goal is to become a CFI.

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CP Jois

CP Jois is a technologist by profession and an avid aviator with a deep passion for simulation technology. He earned his PPL a decade ago, flies a Cessna 172, and is working on his instrument rating. His passion has led him to home-build recreational simulators while also pursuing higher education in Aeronautics with a focus on Human Factors. He is focused on researching opportunities that simulators present, especially when combined with advances in Machine Learning and AI. CP lives in Illinois with his wife and daughter.

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Natalie Kelley

Natalie Kelley is a private pilot, currently working on her instrument rating. She is passionate about encouraging other women to pursue aviation as a hobby or career. She is the CEO of flyGIRL, LLC and Fly Foundation, Inc., which are dedicated to inspiring others through her website, blogs, personal travel photos, videos, retail products and annual scholarship for females. She is constantly pursuing her dreams. She loves to share her life lessons with others in the hopes of helping women find their passion and the initiative to pursue their purpose. She is a wife, mom and philanthropist currently living in the Cincinnati area.

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David Kelly

Based in the West of Ireland, David is private pilot with modest skills but grand ambitions. Enthralled since childhood by all things aeronautical, his background runs from Physics to PR and he loves how flying is a source of both joy and learning. Balancing his job as a systems administrator with playing on the floor with his toddler, he flies his 1940’s Luscombe whenever he can, blogging about it at www.clearofcloud.ie. He admits to daydreaming about flying big piston warbirds but points out that owning his own aeroplane used to be just a daydream too. Oh, and he can occasionally be found playing euphonium.

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Drew Kemp

Drew Kemp is a pilot and flight instructor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born and raised in Berkeley, he cajoled his way into a job at the Oakland Airport and started flying at age 15 in the Champion Citabria. He soloed at 16, and then perfected a 10-minute aerobatic routine, which he demonstrated for the DPE on his checkride. Two weeks after receiving his Private, he and his 19 year old friend ferried a new 7ACA Champ from Wisconsin back to OAK by way of El Paso. Now on his third career (he was previously a roadie for some major rock & roll bands back in the ‘70s, then had a 30 year career in engineering), you can usually find him at KOAK enjoying a free FBO cappuccino, if he’s not up torturing some poor, unsuspecting pilot. Drew is also on the Board of Directors of KidsCareEverywhere, and travels to developing countries, teaching the PEMSoft Mobile Pediatric Emergency Medicine Application to Doctors.

See all articles by Drew Kemp

 

 

Rick Kennett

Rick Kennett was born in Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation and the home of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. After an unsuccessful run at becoming a rock star in the eighties, he decided to finally cut his hair and go to work in the family business. Today he is the CEO and president of the same family business, a finance company and car lot, located in Piqua, Ohio. Somehow, he was able to convince key members of the family business to buy an airplane and then volunteered to be the company pilot for no more salary than what they were already paying him. This paid big dividends in his piloting experience and rating collection. Although the days of a company airplane are long gone, Rick still flies the occasional trip, via contract pilot services, to a handful of buddies who own airplanes, but have no idea how to fly them. A Commercial, Multi, Instrument rated pilot with 2,000+ hours, he has time in the Aztec, Navajo, Cessna 340, and the Cessna Conquest.

See all articles by Rick Kennett

 

 

Galen King

Galen King first got the urge to fly airplanes growing up on the farm in Southeast PA. After 34 years of waiting he finally started taking flying lessons. Years of practice produced Commercial, AMEL, and Instrument notations on the license, even a G100 type rating. He has been privileged to fly for the poorest and the wealthiest people of this world, both with great equipment. A volunteer bush pilot in Guatemala and corporate jet driver out of Pennsylvania USA. He has owned three small airplanes and even likes to talk about how he has owned the current airplane, a Cherokee, twice. Another story….

See all articles by Galen King

 

 

David Kleinschmidt

David Kleinschmidt is a retired police detective who found his way into aviation at age 53, five years before his retirement from a 35-year police career. His wife, Deb, worked a career for the airlines, starting with Ozark in the late 70s and culminating at American in 2004. Dave has a retirement job working on airplanes at a local airport and teaching ground class at another. Both love to travel whether by car or airplane but both also relish home, family, and friends. They have an ownership interest in a Piper Arrow and a Piper Cherokee.

See all articles by David Kleinschmidt

 

 

Andy Kopetzky

Andy grew up in Chicago and I loved airplanes and audio early on. He built plane models beginning with a P-51 Mustang, then later built a “full size” airplane out of scrap wood and planned to fly himself off the third floor (at age five) but a fistfight with a neighbor kid resulted in its destruction soon afterward. He probably saved Andy’s life. He first flew with his dad at age six in an Ercoupe out of Palwaukee (Chicago Executive). He caught the “adult” flying bug later in life and got his private certificate in 2016 at age 64.

See all articles by Andy Kopetzky

Phil wanted to fly planes as a youngster and had model Spitfires and Mustangs hanging in his bedroom in all stages of a dogfight. But when he hit 6 foot in his teens, they said he was too tall and his legs would be cut off if he had to eject. So he resolved to buy his own fighter plane. Admirable aspiration, but things did not go to plan. He spent his money on wine, women and song, and wasted the rest. Recently, a few decades later, he obtained his PPL and is now looking at buying his first plane.

 

 

Phil Kotsanis

Phil wanted to fly planes as a youngster and had model Spitfires and Mustangs hanging in his bedroom in all stages of a dogfight. But when he hit 6 foot in his teens, they said he was too tall and his legs would be cut off if he had to eject. So he resolved to buy his own fighter plane. Admirable aspiration, but things did not go to plan. He spent his money on wine, women and song, and wasted the rest. Recently, a few decades later, he obtained his PPL and is now looking at buying his first plane.

See all articles by Phil Kotsanis

 

 

John Laming

It would be difficult to describe an aviation career more colorful and varied than that of Captain John Laming. His first job in aviation was in 1948 as a “general dogsbody” (that’s British slang for someone who does menial work) for Sydney Morning Herald Flying Services. One of his jobs back then was to throw newspapers out of Lockheed Hudsons and DC-3s as part of a newspaper delivery route throughout New South Wales, Australia. He began a distinguished career in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1951 where he flew a wide variety of airplanes including the Mustang, Vampire, Lincoln, Convair, Viscount, Dakota, and HS748. In addition, he spent some time as a flight instructor and accumulated time in Wirraways, Winjeels and Tiger Moths. His wide experience also led to a stint as an aircraft accident investigator. After 18 years in the RAAF, he worked in Melbourne as an Airways Surveyor, and later flew DC-3s and F.27s performing airways calibration duties. In 1976, Captain Laming was hired by Air Nauru, flying F.28s and later 737-200s on routes throughout the South Pacific. His next move was to England in 1989 where he flew 737s for Paramount Airways, covering European and Middle Eastern routes. He continued flying until 1992 when he had to retire due to the “age 60” rule. He returned to Australia where he kept flying as a flight instructor and charter pilot.

See all articles by John Laming

 

 

Vinton Land

Vinton is a native of Norfolk, VA, and was fortunate to grow up in the early 60s when Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, VA was the home of NASA. His father worked at Langley in the early years of the Mercury Space Program, and he provided an exciting introduction to aviation and space to his young son. Like many pilots from that era, Vinton earned his private pilot license with money earned from paper routes during high school. His wife has endured his love of aviation for over forty years! God Bless Her! Vinton spent thirty five years with 3M Company in sales and sales management, and retired in March of 2016. He currently owns a Cirrus SR-20 with three other partners at Cherokee County Airport in Ball Ground, GA. He is a 700 Hour Commercial Pilot, with an Instrument Rating and holds an Advanced Ground Instructor certificate. He plans on providing ground school classes for prospective Private and Commercial pilot aspirants at his home airport in Canton, GA.

See all articles by Vinton Land

 

 

Phelps Lane

Phelps Lane is a business professional with a lifelong passion for aviation. He earned his pilot’s license at age 18, and instrument rating at age 21, and has ownership experience with numerous makes and models of aircraft, most notably the Pilatus PC-12 turboprop airplane and Bell Jet Ranger X helicopter. He began his career at a global public accounting and consulting firm, then helped establish a family office in Denver, later serving as CEO of the family holding company. Mr. Lane founded Tyr Jet in late 2014 to refurbish legacy Pilatus PC-12/45 aircraft, and bases his aircraft at Centennial Airport, in Denver, Colorado, near where he lives with his wife Amy and two children.

See all articles by Phelps Lane

 

 

Patrick Larreategui

Patrick is a general surgeon living in Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation. He was bitten by the aviation bug after an intro flight in 2006 and obtained his private pilot certificate six months later. He is instrument rated for single and multiengine land airplanes. He holds endorsements for complex, high performance, and tailwheel aircraft. He currently owns a Mooney M20R. He loves sharing his passion for aviation with others. In his spare time, he volunteers for Pilots and Paws, Angel Flight East, and EAA Young Eagles. Most of all, he loves flying adventures with his wife and two children.

See all articles by Patrick Larreategui

 

 

William Law

William’s fascination, and subsequent passion, for aviation was influenced by his father, Kenneth Law. He was an active general aviation pilot who learned to fly in 1947 after leaving the Navy in World War II. William’s first flying lesson was in 1957 at age 13. After a 20 year career in corporate aviation, he was hired by the FAA in 1989 as a Rotorcraft Helicopter specialist. Since the majority of his flight time was in fixed wing aircraft, he transitioned over to air carrier operations and served as the Principal Operations Inspector of a regional airline for the next 10 years. In addition to overseeing the training and testing of airline flight crews, he has served on the Flight Operations Evaluation Board (MMEL) for the Canadair CL600 series of aircraft and a FAA Design Test Team Member for Rotorcraft Non-Precision Approach Aids.

See all articles by William Law

 

 

Tyler Lee

Tyler is an attorney in Columbia, SC, married with two young children. His father and stepmother were both airline pilots for Piedmont and later U.S. Airways. He took some flying lessons at 16 but did not make it to solo before losing interest. In 2012, after flying R/C aircraft for several years, Tyler started taking glider lessons and earned a private pilot-glider certificate the same year. In January, 2016, he started taking powered airplane lessons, and purchased a 1965 PA-28-140 a few months later.

See all articles by Tyler Lee

 

 

Mike Leonzo

Mike Leonzo resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Kathy. He serves as a local pastor and has three grown children. Mike began flying when he was 22 years old, having talked his wife into allowing him to use $2,500 of their wedding money for lessons. However, just prior to his solo cross country, they decided to purchase a home and start a family, thus putting flying on the back burner. Thirty years later, Mike earned his Private Pilot license and is working on his Instrument Rating. He co-owns a Mooney M20J and frequently flies his friend’s Cub Crafter.

See all articles by Mike Leonzo

 

 

Dan Littmann

An airplane aficionado since childhood, Dan is an 1800-hour Commercial pilot with SEL, MEL and Instrument ratings. He learned to fly in 1972. Dan graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1976 with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. He went on to work at the USAF Flight Dynamics Laboratory, Cessna, and Boeing before settling in at FlightSafety International in 1981. Today he is a Staff Scientist at the company’s Simulation Systems unit in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Dan is a specialist in the field of Flight Dynamics. In addition to presenting at several industry conferences over the years, Dan was a member of the International Committee for Aviation Training in Extended Envelopes (ICATEE) from 2010 – 2012. This was a unique opportunity to meet and interact with highly experienced pilots and engineers from all corners of the aviation community. Dan has logged time in some 36 types of light aircraft over the course of his flying career.

See all articles by Dan Littmann

 

 

Ted Luebbers

After joining the Experimental Aircraft Association some years ago, Ted became aware that the chapter was doing great things in the community such as Young Eagles flights, working with Boy Scouts to help with their Aviation Merit Badges, and supporting other aviation get-togethers with breakfasts and lunches but not getting much publicity about it in the local newspapers. As a result, he volunteered to do their publicity by writing about and photographing their events. After four years of doing this it has led to becoming sort of a freelance aviation journalist. Aviation had always been a keen interest of Ted’s, so this has been a good fit.

See all articles by Ted Luebbers

 

 

Duane Mader

Duane grew up fascinated with airplanes and lived for rides in his brother’s Super Cub. He built RC planes and soloed in high school but really couldn’t see a way to fund his flying til after various manual labor jobs, he went to A&P school in Sydney, Nebraska. He used a mechanic’s scholarship there to get his private and went on to an old school FBO where he could be a mechanic and work his way up through the ratings. Duane has flight instructed, flown charter, air ambulance, been a Director of Maintenance and corporate pilot. He currently flies a great plane (Cessna CJ2) for a great company in Rapid City.

See all articles by Duane Mader

 

 

Sal Marinello

Sal grew up on Long Island, NY, and spent many days at old Zahn’s airport chasing pilots around and talking to anyone who would chat about airplanes and flying. Influenced by his parents’ love of airplanes and flying, Sal started learning to fly in 1988, finally earning his private pilot license in 1997. He shares ownership of and currently flies a Cirrus SR22 that is based at ISP. With commercial and instrument ratings, and soon to be a newly minted CFI, Sal is working to expand his professional flying in the future, and appreciates the value of general aviation, using the Cirrus to travel up and down the east coast and parts of the Midwest for work, and when able, annual trips to Oshkosh.

See all articles by Sal Marinello

 

 

John Marshall

John learned to fly at age 16 at San Francisco International Airport after a childhood of mostly gazing at airplanes and building airplane models. After a brief and forgettable college career, he entered the US Air Force as an Aviation Cadet at age 19, and went through multi-engine pilot training, graduating as a 2nd lieutenant and rated Air Force pilot in 1956. He spent three years as a flight instructor in Texas, then moved on to the Strategic Air Command as a Combat Crewmember in B-52 heavy bombers. He left the Air Force in 1963 to escape the talons of SAC, and with no airline jobs available anywhere, I managed to find a corporate job with Aerojet General Corp in Sacramento, CA. In July of the following year he was hired by Pan Am as a flight engineer in Berlin, where he spent eleven very enjoyable years doing the industry’s most satisfying flying and living in the world’s most exciting, exotic, erotic city. He transferred to New York to check out as captain on the B707. He finally checked out in 1978, was made a check pilot the following year and was assigned to White House Press Charters. When the L-1011 came along in 1980, John was assigned as fleet manager for that airplane. He transferred to SFO in 1983 on the B747, and then came the Pacific Route sale to United. The West Coast bases rapidly shrank after that, and he ended up back in New York in 1989. He was based at JFK until the end, and on Dec 3, 1991 flew the last revenue flight to South America, flight 212 to Sao Paulo. The following spring he flew a Hajj out of Jakarta (a whole ‘nother story), and that fall went to work for Korean Airlines as a 747 captain, where he flew until mandatory retirement in 1995. In 1996, he went to work for the FAA in St. Louis, and is still there and still working. He stays current in the Embraer 145 regional jet as part of the job.

See all articles by John Marshall

 

 

Mark Martin

At sixteen Mark worked as a lineman at a local FBO and started flying lessons. By the time he was a sophomore in college, he was flight instructing. Flight instructing didn’t last long because he “landed” a job as a copilot flying the night mail on a Beech 99. He flew the night mail and carried a full college load until his senior year. From there, a stint with a few non-scheds until a thirty one year career with a major airline. Since retiring, Mark was SO lucky to find my way back to the DC-3 and intends to have the last logbook entry he ever makes be on the “Grand Old Lady.”

See all articles by Mark Martin

 

 

Mike Mason

Mike Mason was born in Toledo, Ohio, and grew up less than a mile from the Toledo Express Airport, just to the right of the final approach path to runway 25. He used to ride his bike to the overpass on Eber Road that overlooked the runway threshold and watch planes land for hours. One of his biggest thrills was to catch a glimpse of the white-helmeted head of an air national guard pilot as he landed his F-84F Thunderstreak with a puff of blue-gray smoke curling up from each main gear. He started flying lessons at 16 and eventually earned a commercial license with SMEL, instrument, and CFI ratings. He also has an aircraft dispatcher ticket. He has worked as a CFI, dispatcher/flight follower, ramp agent and aircraft refueler. These were all fun, but none of them ever earned him much of a living. To feed his family, he worked for many years in health care and education, both much less enjoyable.

See all articles by Mike Mason

 

 

Mort Mason

Mort Mason soloed on Friday the 13th–April 1956–on an airplane with skis, in a 20-knot crosswind at Lake Hood, Alaska, in a serious snowstorm. Since that day, he successfully completed his Private License check ride on March 4, 1957. His ASES, Commercial and Instrument Rating followed. Mason says, “My logs, not always attentively kept, now show 18,000 flying hours as PIC. About 16,000 of those hours were made while flying the Alaska outback, just another of Alaska’s long list of ragbag bush pilots.” He’s had two books published by Voyageur Press: Flying the Alaska Wild and The Alaska Bush Pilot Chronicles. Both are available through Amazon.com.

See all articles by Mort Mason

 

 

Chris Mayer

Chris has been an active pilot for more than 35 years. He flies a 1967 Cessna O-2A in which he has provided over 100 flights for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles program. He and his family volunteer at AirVenture and Chris regularly flies in the Warbirds portion of the air show (when the schedule allows for a lowly aircraft like his O-2 take part). Chris is also a mission pilot, cadet orientation pilot, instructor pilot and check pilot for the Civil Air Patrol. His ratings include Certified Flight Instructor, Airline Transport Pilot and Remote Pilot.

See all articles by Chris Mayer

 

 

Mac McClellan

When people ask Mac McClellan what he does for a living, he replies, “I fly airplanes and write about them. And I’m one of the most fortunate people in the world to have been able to make a career of doing what I love.” Mac has been a pilot for more than 45 years, an aviation writer for more than 40 and has been lucky enough to get to fly just about every type of personal and business airplane in production from the 1970s onward. He was on the Flying Magazine staff for 35 years and editor-in-chief for 20 of those years. He has private pilot privileges in single-engine airplanes, commercial pilot in helicopters and ATP in airplanes with more than one engine. He holds several business jet type ratings and has logged more than 10,000 hours. His first airplane was a Cessna 140 and for the past 27 years he has owned a Baron 58 flying it more than 5,000 hours to cover the aviation industry. And now he is a part-time corporate pilot flying a King Air 350.

See all articles by Mac McClellan

 

 

Shane McHugh

Shane McHugh has always been interested in aviation and obtained his Private Pilot’s License in 1991. He has a Commercial Pilot’s License ASEL/ASES & Rotorcraft – Helicopter. In addition to pilot qualifications, Shane also has a Master’s Degree in Aviation and Transportation. He is currently working on his Instructor certification.

See all articles by Shane McHugh

 

 

George Mendenhall

George Stuart Mendenhall, MD is a cardiologist specializing in cardiac electrophysiology who lives in San Diego, California. He was a chemistry and physics major at Harvard University, where he stayed for medical school and residency. For many years he commuted weekly to an outreach medical clinic by air to serve his patients in Pennsylvania, accumulating hundreds of hours every year with true weather flying.

See all articles by George Mendenhall

 

 

Allen Michler

Allen Michler was an Aviation Electronics Technician (ATN1) then an Anti-submarine Warfare Technician (AW1) crewing on Navy S2F Grumman Trackers for ten years in the Naval Air Reserve. Then it was off to a Washington State National Guard OCS program for a commission, retiring eventually as an LTC. He started flying while in the Navy and eventually held Commercial/Instrument/Instructor ratings. On the civilian side he was a manager for ten years for MICRODATA, a computer company McDonnell Douglas owned. The last sixteen working years were with The Boeing Company, first as a Flight Test Electrician and then as a planner in the 737/757 Delivery Center. Still loves flying…

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Grace Miller

Grace Miller grew up as a proud Air Force brat and now lives on the southeastern coast of the United States, where she is a rising junior in high school. Her fondest childhood memories include airborne adventures with her dad and sister in their 1952 Cessna 170 named Blitz, aviation-themed weekend science experiments, and wide-eyed tours of military base flight lines. Her most prized possession is a necklace charm that accompanied her dad at Mach 1.5 on his final flight in the Air Force. She has been hooked on flight since she was eleven and is currently pursuing her pilot’s license.

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Jay Miller

Jay Miller is a Texas-based aviation photo journalist with 36 books and over a thousand published newspaper and magazine articles to his credit. He is also the retired director of the American Airlines C. R. Smith Museum and the retired director of Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection. As a professional aviation photographer, he spends most of his time working with a variety of aviation clients that include many of the major contractors as well as numerous local subs and completion shops. His work has appeared in publications across the globe. Miller has received many accolades for his writing and photography, the most recent of which was the International Society for Aviation Photography’s George Hall Lifetime Achievement Award. He has logged time in a broad spectrum of aircraft including hot air balloons, helicopters, sailplanes, and high-performance military fighters. Jay is married with two adult daughters.

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Dan Moore

After a successful career Dan sold his business to spend time with his three children (yeah!) and his adoring wife (when are you going back to work?). He has SEL and MEL instrument tickets and a rotorcraft license. He once held a ProCard from FlightSafety for the BE-20, a personal best as a PPL. Dan is partner in a PA-32R, a 1st Lieutenant with the Civil Air Patrol, and is building a Just Aircraft SuperSTOL with his son. You can read about his latest flying shenanigans at www.farmerflier.com or his farming misadventures at www.ninjacowfarm.com.

See all articles by Dan Moore

 

 

Matt Morrissey

Matt Morrissey is an airman who began flying in his father’s Starduster Too when he was ten. A long career in aerobatic aircraft followed – aerobatic competition in the Pitts and several years with the Red Barons flying their 450 hp Stearmans. He was the Western Hemisphere Sukhoi sport aerobatic aircraft distributor. Matt was a member of the US Aerobatic Team that won the Gold Medal at the World Advanced Aerobatic Championships. He delivered several Air Tractor sprayers to Argentina and Colombia and once ferried a Pitts S-2B from Ft. Lauderdale to San Paulo Brazil. He has been flying corporate business jets for over twenty years and is presently a Gulfstream IV pilot living in Kansas City.

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Steve Mosier

Colonel (ret) Steve Mosier served nearly twenty-seven years in the Air Force flying F-4 and F-15s in TAC, PACAF and USAFE. He was the TAC HQ F-15 requirements officer, and later the Chief of the Checkmate Group in the Pentagon. Memorable experiences include a combat tour with Satan’s Angels; taking the 336TFS to Germany on REFORGER; and leading the TAC F-15 Demonstration team, a KC-10 and B-52, to Santiago, Chile. He and his wife, Pat, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Marietta, GA where they live near their family, Megan, Bill and their four-year-old grandson, Liam.

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Egor Muleev

Egor has had a strong passion for aviation since elementary school. As a teenager, he spent a lot of time on modeling but piloting was unattainable for decades. After he moved to Moscow, Egor graduated with a master’s degree in Sociology and started his current career in Transport Economics and Transport Policy Institute as a Scientific Research Fellow. He completed his first research on Russian general aviation in 2018. In January 2019, Egor received a two-year funding for another research in the same field. As a result, he is now on the way to his first ratings for gliders and piston-engine airplanes.

See all articles by Egor Muleev

 

 

Wally Mulhearn

Wally Mulhearn is a graduate of the University of Louisiana Monroe. He is currently a B-737 Captain and Check Airman for United Airlines. With over 20,000 hours, he is type rated on the B-727, B-737, B-757, and B-767. He also is a Designated Pilot Examiner in Houston, TX. He owns a C-172 and flies for “Pilots for Patients” when not flying for United or administering check rides. His father was an Eastern Airlines pilot and both his daughters are pilots.

See all articles by Wally Mulhearn

 

 

Russell Munson

Russell Munson’s first pictures taken at age 12 with the family Kodak were of airplanes. The love of airplanes led him to the love of photography, and he combined his two passions from then on. Munson made all of the photographs in Richard Bach’s classic book, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull;” wrote and photographed the book, “Skyward: Why Flyers Fly;” and wrote, photographed, narrated and produced his DVD, “Flying Route 66,” with music by Crawford Brown. Munson’s commercial photography and writing has appeared in advertising and magazines such as Flying where he is a Consulting Editor, and Air & Space Smithsonian. His fine art aerial landscape photographs are in the collections of private collectors, museums, and corporations. Munson holds a Commercial Pilot License, with Instrument, and Multi-engine ratings, and a DC-3 type rating. He has owned his beloved 1962 Piper Super Cub for over 35 years, and in some 40 years as a pilot has flown a variety of aircraft from ultralights to corporate jets.

See all articles by Russell Munson

 

 

Keith Myles

Keith graduated from Purdue with a BS in aeronautical engineering in 1959, MS in 1969 from University of Santa Clara. He worked in aerospace as an engineer in the 1960s, then went on to earn his Private Pilot license in 1987, instrument rating 1992, commercial license 1993. He has logged over 3000 hours, mostly in the Grumman American AA-5B. Keith has flown from the Boston area to Anaktuvuk Pass, AK, and across the country several times. Also, he has flown from the east coast to the Florida Keys and Treasure Cay in the Bahamas. He belongs to AOPA, EAA, AYA (American Yankee Association) and hopes to join United Flying Octogenarians (he just turned 80).

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Gerry O’Brien

Gerry is a Senior Content Developer creating training content for software developers. He had a passion for flying since high school and wanted to join the Canadian Air Force but didn’t have 20/20 uncorrected vision. So he put flying out of his mind until moving to the U.S. where he was able to earn his Private Pilot certificate in Seattle, flying out of KBFI. He has enjoyed taking family and friends on their first general aviation experience and still loves the freedom that flying brings. His next aviation ambition is to add a rotorcraft rating.

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Dick O’Reilly

Dick O’Reilly is a retired Los Angeles Times journalist who now works for FEMA, as needed, writing news releases at disasters. He began flying in 1985, and earned single-engine commercial-instrument privileges. He has owned six airplanes ranging from an experimental light sport Thunder Gull to a Piper Comanche 250. He bought an Interstate Cadet S-1A four years ago and flies it as a light sport pilot.

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Zach Panzino

Zach is a low hour 17-year-old private pilot with dreams of becoming an airline pilot. The aviation bug was instilled in him on a discovery flight, and from that point forward becoming a private pilot was the dream. Now that that goal has been obtained, he will be attending a part 141 school to receive the rest of his certificates and ratings. Currently, he flies for fun out of central Illinois, taking friends to dinner somewhere far away, or taking his dad flying with me. Aviation already has a special place in his heart and will continue to be there for a long time.

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Chris Parker

Chris learned to fly in 1972 on a Royal Air Force Flying Scholarship and joined the RAF in 1976 after university, flying the Harrier GR3/T4 at Gütersloh and Wittering as a weapons instructor. In 1988 he joined Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong where he flew the L-1011 Tristar and Boeing 747-400 as First Officer, and the Tristar and Airbus A340 as Captain. In 1996 he returned to the UK and joined Virgin Atlantic on the A340 fleet. He added the A330 to his type list in 2014 and converted to the Boeing 787-9 in 2016. Flying experiences includes Stearman flying at Chino, California, floatplane flying in California and on a UK PBY Catalina, ferrying a TB-10 Tobago from Hong Kong to Guanghan, China, ferrying his A36 Bonanza from Pretoria to the UK in 1998 and sending his eldest son solo on a 1947 Cessna 120 (he now flies the Typhoon). His total flying time is 19,500 hrs, with 2,300 of that in Single Engine Piston.

See all articles by Chris Parker

 

 

Dick Peiffer

Dick has been in aviation since 1953. He was a radar controller in the USAF then went with the CAA/FAA. During a 32-year career in ATC with the agency, he certified in all four AT options: FSS, ARTCC, ATCT and TRACONs. He served on the AT evaluation staff auditing the services provided by ATC and FSS facilities. He soloed at Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska in 1958, holds an ATP, ASEL/MEL/SES certificate, and was a corporate pilot and flight instructor for over 25 years. He flew a variety of business aircraft. Logged 7,000+ hours in over 90 make/model aircraft. He was active in flying clubs, the CAP, and owned a Comanche and a Bonanza. He has volunteered with the FAA Safety Program since its beginning in the early 1970s and a recipient of the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. Now retired, he lives in Melbourne, FL and edits a newsletter for a pilots association.

See all articles by Dick Peiffer

 

 

J.C. Pennington

J.C. Pennington attended The Ohio State University journalism school and graduated from Capital University, Columbus, OH, in 1974 after serving five years active duty in the U.S. Army. Prior to attending helicopter flight school, he graduated from the Air Force Air Traffic Control School and worked as an Army air traffic controller. He also served as an Army Chief Warrant Officer helicopter pilot in Vietnam in 1968-69, flying both Huey transport and gunship helicopters for the 174th Assault Helicopter Company. He retired after 35 years as a newspaper publisher and president. He lives in Belton, TX, with his wife Cindy.

See all articles by J.C. Pennington

 

 

Rene Perrigoue

Rene Perrigoue (pronounced “Pair Ah Goo”) is a Seattle-based captain who flies the E-175 for Horizon Airlines. Prior to flying the Embraer, she flew the Dash 8 as an First Officer for four years, upgrading directly into the left seat of the Embraer. Rene began flying at fifteen years old out of her local airport in Pendleton, Oregon. The majority of Rene’s flight training took place in Southern California. Completing her Bachelor’s degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, she has been a certified flight instructor for nineteen years. Rene resides in Southern California with her two small children, ages 8 and 10.

See all articles by Rene Perrigoue

 

 

James Perry

Jim’s aviation world began when he used funds from a student loan during his sophomore year at Texas Tech, taking flying lessons in Piper 150s, getting his license 13 months later. In August 1966, he earned his Navy Wings, then served the last 2 years in the Navy as navigator on the ammo ship USS Paricutin, navigating one tour along the coast of Vietnam, then mustered out the navy in 1969 as the Operations Boss on the USS Amphion. His favorite airplane was the 1425 HP T-28, characterized by Bud Davisson as “a giant beer keg standing on tiptoe.” Jim returned to civilian aviation in 1976 in the Piper Tomahawk, with time in the Bonanza A-36, but mostly two speed-modified Mooney 20C Mark 21s, the last one tied down and maintained by Air Combat USA in Fullerton, California. He has logged a modest 1,000 hours over 43 years. The Mooneys were the most satisfying of all his civilian flying. Retirement has allowed him to enjoy his hobby of writing, using the civilian and military experiences for historical fiction (The Fiery Women of Angels Four) and family drama (The Parker Affair). Jim lives in El Dorado Hills, CA, where he fishes and lives with his sweet wife of 52 years, part time ruthless editor and full time travel partner of nearly 90 countries.

See all articles by James Perry

 

 

Jay PerryCook

Jay PerryCook discovered the spirit of flight in 1997 learning to fly in an L-4 Clipped Wing Cub at the Watsonville Airport in California. His ownership of aircraft started with a Piper Pacer then he moved on to a Maule M7, a Beech 18 D Model, and currently a Cessna 185 and a de Havilland Beaver. Jay has over 2500 flight hours and lives in Gig Harbor, Washington, with his wife and three children. Jay is Owner and General Manager of Eagle Commercial Services, Inc., a General Contracting company, building cellular communication towers. He also founded, owns and operates PerryCook Flight Services, LLC, a Part 135 Air Taxi Service out of Tacoma Narrows Airport with his Beaver and 185.

See all articles by Jay PerryCook

 

 

Ken Petschauer

Ken has been flying for more than 32 years with a background including flight instructing, corporate flying and over 22 years flying for a major airline. He has flown numerous transport category and general aviation aircraft and holds several certifications including B757/767/ER170/ERJ190 type ratings, CFII (Gold Seal), Flight Engineer Turbojet, Advanced Ground Instructor and FAA 8099 certifications. His experience also includes operating procedure design certification and implementation, safety investigations and courseware development. Ken is currently a Captain and Check Airman and former Fleet Manager at a major U.S. air carrier. Ken has been an adjunct professor teaching advanced aviation management courses and has been an invited speaker on numerous occasions. He holds a Masters degree in Aeronautical Science with Operations Specialization from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Bachelor’s Degree in aviation from ERAU. In his free time Ken enjoys flying his Piper Warrior from the airpark where he resides and chasing his Beagle appropriately named “Piper.”

See all articles by Ken Petschauer

 

 

Stephen Phoenix

A born aviation enthusiast for unknown reasons as there was no preceding family involvement in aviation. Soloed at age 16 in a J-3 Cub in 1967 at Creswell, OR and achieved Private license at age 18 in a Cessna 150 at Billings, MT. His working life has been, since 1977, and currently is as an aircraft engineer on aircraft ranging from ultralights (Sorrell Hiperlite) to the Boeing 737. Stephen holds FAA certificates: Commercial, SEL, MEL, Glider and CFI, CFII along with the old Ground Instructor Basic, Advanced and Instrument and A&P with Inspector Authorization. The FAA also has designated him as an Engineering Representative for aircraft certifications.

See all articles by Stephen Phoenix

 

 

Luca Pineda

Luca Pineda is a corporate pilot and helicopter instructor, CRM instructor, doing Risk Analysis for private and commercial SMS programs. His 30-year aviation career started in helicopters in 1988, then he spent 20 years working in the airline industry as a pilot, Chief Pilot, Operations Director and DPE for the DGAC. He is on the board of directors for a flight school and a logistics group in Central America. He is a fixed wing and rotary wing ATP, with type ratings in the G-159, SD3-30, BAC1-11, B737, A320, and GV. Luca is passionate about aviation, safety, teamwork, learning, teaching, family and health.

See all articles by Luca Pineda

 

 

Kevin Poole

Kevin Poole lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he is a professor of the history and literature of Spain as well as a private pilot. His interest in aviation began during his teenage years, but it wasn’t until his late 30s that he decided to explore it further. While living in New Haven, CT, Kevin began taking lessons toward Private Pilot certification, which he finished at Capital City Aviation after moving to Columbus. He is currently studying for the Instrument written exam and exploring the various aircraft owned by his flying club. Eventually, he hopes to achieve the Commercial rating.

See all articles by Kevin Poole

 

 

Paul Provo

Paul Provo was born in Orange, Texas, and brought up in Spain. He holds FAA and EASA ATPL, with type ratings for the DC-3, Bae ATP, F 50, B 737, Falcon 20 D, A 330/320. Formerly a professional drummer, he is currently a western author with Dusty Saddle Publications, an audiobook narrator, and a producer. He is currently working on an aeronautical thriller (A Web of Malicious Opportunity) and his memories, “Between Two Flags.” He lives in Barcelona, Spain, with his wife Dolors of 49 years.

See all articles by Paul Provo

 

 

Elke Quodt

After leaving university, Elke’s first aviation enthusiasm breakout was becoming a flight attendant with Lufthansa, working on the B747 and B727 for 10 years. Her husband’s aviation passion fueled not only him to earn a private pilot license, but also their two grown sons’. In 2010 Elke and her husband bought their beautiful Cessna 182, which gave her the ultimate motivation to also go for it. So she earned her private pilot license in 2013 at the age of 57 and has been enjoying flying and sharing her family’s passion big time in Europe as well as in the US since then.

See all articles by Elke Quodt

 

 

Audrey Rabe

Born in 1996 in Cleveland, Ohio, Audrey Rabe’s determination to become a pilot first took hold of her when she was twelve. She took her first solo flight in a Cessna 152 before she had her driver’s license, and since then has earned her Private, Instrument, and Commercial AMEL ratings while attending Liberty University, in addition to competing on Liberty’s Track and Field team as a pole vaulter. She is currently working on her A&P certificate with the hopes of using her aviation skills overseas as a bush pilot/mechanic for humanitarian work.

See all articles by Audrey Rabe

 

 

Eric Radtke

It was his first airplane trip at age seven that made Eric decide to become a pilot. “While boarding the airplane, a flight attendant noticed my interest in the flight deck and urged me to go talk to the pilot. I give a lot of credit to that pilot for my career choice.” He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and went on to an airline career. Eric now heads Sporty’s flight school and directs the University of Cincinnati’s Professional Pilot Training Program. In addition, Eric serves as a Captain in Sporty’s corporate flight department.

See all articles by Eric Radtke

 

 

Enderson Rafael

Enderson Rafael spent the last 14 years flying, first as cabin crew, then as a pilot. And although his career brought him from the 737 galley in Brazil to the flight deck of the heavy plastic in the Middle East, he left his heart with the single piston engines in Florida that made it possible.

See all articles by Enderson Rafael

 

 

Jeremiah Ragadio

Jeremiah “Jerry” Ragadio has been a US Navy helicopter pilot since 2002 with over 2,500 total flight hours, mostly in the Sikorsky S-70 (SH-60B and MH-60R “Seahawk”), flying from Navy aircraft carriers and other surface ships. He is a military instructor pilot and was the Navy’s Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) Lead Evaluator for the MH-60R (equivalent to a corporate check airman lead). He holds Commercial Pilot (Rotorcraft helicopter, Instrument Helicopter) and Commercial Pilot (multi-engine land, Instrument Airplane) FAA certificates, but hopes to do more civilian flying as his logbook only shows 1 flight in a non-military airplane.

See all articles by Jeremiah Ragadio

 

 

Ron Randall

Ron Randall is a retired professor of political science and public administration, from the University of Toledo. An instrument-rated pilot, he has about 700 hours. He is in a club with seven other members which owns a Cessna 182. He has been flying since 2002 and, over the last several summers, has regularly returned to his home state of Montana in the Cessna 182. He likes to fly to Denver to visit a daughter and her family. It may not be cost-effective, but he finds it a lot more fun than flying commercially or driving.

See all articles by Ron Randall

 

 

Gary Reeves

Gary Reeves is an ATP and Master Flight, Instrument, and Multi-Engine Instructor. He has taught over 200 students and was the 2014 FAA Safety Rep and Instructor of the Year for the Long Beach FSDO. Gary now spends most of his time as the Chief Safety Pilot for PilotSafety.org, a volunteer organization dedicated to reducing GA accidents. A well-known national speaker, he issued over 10,000 FAA Wings credits in 2014. Contact him anytime at www.PilotSafety.org.

See all articles by Gary Reeves

 

 

Arnold Reiner

Arnie grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx and has a BS degree in journalism from the University of Bridgeport. After serving four years as a Marine Corps helicopter pilot, he joined Pan Am in 1968 and later was a captain on the Boeing 727 and Airbus A310 with additional responsibilities as the Director of Flight Safety. He joined Delta Air Lines in 1991 in conjunction with the sale of Pan Am’s European routes and retired as a Boeing 727 captain in 2000. Type ratings include the DC-3, Boeing 707, 727, Airbus A310 and several helicopters. His memoir of CH-46 Vietnam flying experiences, 46 Driver, is available from Bluewater Press and Amazon. He lives with his wife in Pensacola, Florida.

See all articles by Arnold Reiner

 

 

David Reinhart

David started flying when he was 16 and earned his PPL at 20. He learned to fly at Barstow-Daggett Airport (DAG) in the Mojave desert of Southern California, flying Champs and Cessna 150s. While attending college in Tulsa, OK, he flew out of Riverside (now Jones) airport. In 1979 he got a chance to ferry a Cessna 120 from Tulsa to Hanscom Field near Boston, MA. David moved to New England in 1982 and was trapped there until 2018, when he retired to his home state of Virginia. For almost three decades he was a partner in a fixed gear Cardinal based at Fitchburg Municipal Airport (FIT). In 2010 he bought out the other four partners, updated the panel, painted the airplane and sold shares to new pilots. He has almost 900 hours logged, most of it in the Cardinal, and earned his instrument rating in that plane. David started free-lancing at 16 to help pay for flying lessons and has also worked as a newspaper reporter, editor and photographer, but his day job for 35 years was in IT. He has published one novel, Osprey Point, a murder mystery set at a nuclear power plant in Connecticut. A Cessna Cardinal plays a small but important role in solving the mystery. It is available at from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at the iTunes store. The sequel, in the works, contains a lot more flying.

See all articles by David Reinhart

 

 

Giancarlo Riolfo

As a boy Giancarlo Riolfo’s dream was to become an astronaut. Unfortunately the requirements were too high: 20/20 eyesight, a PhD and thousands hours at the controls of a supersonic fighter. Living in Italy did not help in an era when you had to be Russian or American. Withdrawn from the idea of becoming an astronaut and being too lazy to do a serious job, Giancarlo choose to be a journalist. For more than 30 years he wrote about cars, but he never lost his interest for spaceflight, working on this subject for Italian newspapers. He writes also for the leading Italian aviation magazines “Volare” and “VFR Aviation.” Giancarlo flies a light aircraft, but he loves to jump in old warbirds’ cockpits every time he can.

See all articles by Giancarlo Riolfo

 

 

Steve Robbins

Steve Robbins was the airport kid, that kid who rode his bicycle to the little airport at the edge of an Ohio town and hung out. He’d found his place. What came first was an avocation, then an enjoyable 32-year career at US Airways. After retirement a chance meeting with the pilot/owner of a CitationJet led to an adventurous second career of corporate flying in Cessna Citations. He has now gone back to his roots, a grass runway in the country where he flies a Cherokee 140. He feels he is damn lucky to be there.

See all articles by Steve Robbins

 

 

Jon Roberts

Jon Roberts grew up in Dayton, Ohio (the birthplace of aviation) and has been fascinated with flying since childhood. He is a retired Army veteran and currently works as an information technology project manager. Besides flying, Jon attends night school pursuing his Aviation Maintenance Technician ratings. He was recently awarded the Frank B. Kroeger Engineering Technology Scholarship from Columbus State Community College and the Experimental Aircraft Association’s John Sandberg A&P Scholarship. He is also a Private Pilot.

See all articles by Jon Roberts

 

 

Marty Sacks

Marty Sacks is a second generation aviator living in Maryland who thanks his Dad for passing along what has become a lifelong love of flying and the appreciation for great aviation books written by legends like Robert Buck and Richard Collins. Marty recently became a flight instructor and enjoys working with the next generation of pilots. He is a very active member of the Maryland Wing of Civil Air Patrol. He is married to his best friend and occasional passenger Mary Beth. They have three grown sons. By day he works in the broadcast industry for an equipment supplier.

See all articles by Marty Sacks

 

 

Sandro Salgueiro

Sandro Salgueiro is an aviation researcher at MIT focusing on the design and implementation of advanced PBN instrument approach procedures. He has previously been involved with the design of avionics for the Embraer KC-390 and the Gulfstream G500. He is an instrument-rated private pilot with 250 flight hours, and is responsible for organizing fly-outs for the MIT Flying Club. He currently flies a 1989 Piper Arrow, and is based in Bedford, MA (KBED).

See all articles by Sandro Salgueiro

 

 

Dave Sandidge

Dave Sandidge is a 60-year old pilot for American Airlines, having started with America West Airlines in 1991. He began learning to fly light airplanes in 1969, and started formal flying lessons in 1970 with Wesley Hillman in Roanoke, Virginia. He is now a celebrated member of the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame. Most of his aviation background – before the major airline flying came along – consisted of cargo and passenger charter in many varying types of aircraft from single-engine Cessnas to DC-3s. He has a total of just over 24,000 hours of learning in his logbooks, and his favorite airplane is (was) the C-47.

See all articles by Dave Sandidge

 

 

Peter Santana

Peter grew up in an aviation family and came to love it at an early age. His father was his primary flight instructor. He soloed at 16 and received his PPL just after graduating high school. His primary passion is antique and aerobatic aircraft and he spent a couple of seasons competing in IAC competitions with his Pitts S-1S. He, his wife, and 3 boys now live in Indonesia where Peter serves as a Missionary Pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship.

See all articles by Peter Santana

 

 

Dan Schmiedt

The ink wasn’t quite dry on Dan Schmiedt’s pilot’s license when he bought a 1946 Luscombe 8A in 2003. After a challenging checkout, a weary-eyed fight instructor told Dan that the only way he’d get better with the directionally-challenged Luscombe was to fly it every day. Since then, he has done his best to do just that, flying it most mornings before going to work at Clemson University. Today, Dan is a part-time CFI and staff advisor to the University’s flying club. When he’s not flying the Luscombe, or flying with a student, he is working on restoring a 1954 Cessna 195B.

See all articles by Dan Schmiedt

 

 

Jeff Schlueter

Jeff grew up in Wichita, KS, watching F-4s and B-52s fly out of McConnell AFB, but he never seriously thought about being a pilot until graduating from college in the same year that Top Gun was released. He, along with thousands of others, marched right down to the Navy recruiting office to sign up for that gig, but the Navy decided his feet were too flat. The dream smoldered for several decades, until a friend took him for a ride in his Cessna 172, which relit the flame. He now has 1300 hours on his PPL, and flies mostly for pleasure and some business in a Mooney Ovation 3. He also volunteers for Angel Flight and Pilots ‘n Paws missions, and finally gets to exercise his “need for speed” by racing the Ovation 3 in the Sport Air Racing League events. So far, he has never been beaten in the Factory class, but encourages everyone to give it their best shot.

See all articles by Jeff Schlueter

 

 

Chris Schreiber

Chris’s introduction to flying came through a great friend who happened to own a Cherokee PA28-140 and was a flight instructor. He started training on 12/28/2011, and got his private pilot certificate on 5/12/2012. In June of 2017, he was blessed to purchase N29HL and has flown about 150 hours since, including the addition of an instrument rating. He is a veterinarian by day, and husband and father to the most amazing wife and two beautiful girls alive. Chris is passionate about aviation safety, and using small airplanes for travel and fun.

See all articles by Chris Schreiber

 

 

Joe Sener

Joe Sener is an 800+ hour private pilot with an Instrument Rating. He flies his Piper Cherokee Dakota out of Lake in the Hills Airport (3CK) in Illinois. In his other life, Joe is a Professional Engineer and VP of Quality in the medical device industry. His most recent challenge was successful completion of a High Mountain Flying Course in Colorado.

See all articles by Joe Sener

 

 

Marshall Severson

Marshall Severson is a lifelong Alaskan, graduate of the University of Alaska, 30 plus year Flight Services professional and ATP rated. An aircraft owner, Marshall enjoys Sunday afternoon flights among the mountains and glaciers near Anchorage.

See all articles by Marshall Severson

 

 

Adam Shaw

A UPI foreign correspondent for UPI in France, West Africa, Belgium and Italy, Adam Shaw returned to America during Watergate as a reporter for the Washington Post. He then wrote SOUND OF IMPACT «The Legacy of TWA # 514.» His first aviation job was instructing aerobatics tailwheel training at the University of North Dakota. A consultant pilot and Programs Manager for SABRELINER on their EFS (Enhanced Flight Screener) program flying a SIA Marchetti SF-260E, he then worked for Jim Bede on the BD10 project. Moving south, he then taught at Mudry Aviation, of “French Connection” fame. Years later, back in Europe, he co-founded CAPTENS, a formation airshow demo team. An FAA CFII, and EASA aerobatic instructor, he teaches in a CAP 10B/K and a Super Cub.

See all articles by Adam Shaw

 

 

Michael Sheetz

Michael Sheetz is a graduate of Bremen Senior High School in Bremen, IN and Purdue University. Raised on a dairy farm with a grass strip on it, Mike has always had an interest in aviation. He has been involved in various businesses and retired in 2013 after 11 years with Edward Jones in Nappanee, IN doing financial planning. He chaired the Wings and Wheels Show for the town’s Apple Festival for those 11 years. Mike learned to fly with his CFI brother, Harry, getting his private ticket at age 62. He now lives on the east side of Indianapolis, where he enjoys golf and aviation activities, which include being involved in a flying club, an EAA Chapter, and AOPA. Mike’s accompanying photo was taken by a friend with Mike in the backseat of a T34 Mentor.

See all articles by Michael Sheetz

 

 

Neil Sidwell

Born in England, Neil’s love of flying started after reading Biggles books while bed-bound with tonsillitis at age 10. Later he cadged flights in Cessnas or Pipers with his former Scout patrol leader, now a pilot. After moving to Australia years later he started flying lessons with Recreational Aviation Australia, and gained a Pilot Certificate at age 54. His first purchase was a half share in a Gazelle. Now retired from a career in IT, he owns a Savannah LSA, and is building a full-size replica Sopwith Pup in his garage/under his pergola. He is hoping that will be finished in the next year… or two… or…

See all articles by Neil Sidwell

 

 

Benjamin Siepser

Benjamin Brinton Siepser has always loved anything that flew: playing with small models and drones, building RC airplanes and Estes rockets. He wrestles and plays lacrosse for Unionville High School. He is a D3 Pony Clubber, competing in Mounted Games and Tetrathlons, and is a pianist. His GA family has traveled numerous times to Florida and the Bahamas; as soon as he could reach the controls of the Bonanza, he was taking over. Now with 50 hours of “co-pilot” time, he is applying for aviation scholarships so he can solo by the time he is sixteen!

See all articles by Benjamin Siepser

 

 

Fred Simonds

Long before the day he started flight training in 1978, he knew flying was for him. Of Fred’s 5000+ hours, about 3900 are instrument instruction. He is a Gold Seal CFI. Fred’s specialty is IFR training in glass cockpit aircraft, such as the Cirrus, Cessna 172/182/210, Columbia 350, Piper Archer III and Piper Mirage 350. His teaching career spans three large flight schools and two flying clubs. At one school he was the assistant chief instructor for eight years. Fred occasionally speaks at FAA safety meetings, and is a prolific author, having written hundreds of articles for aviation magazines.

See all articles by Fred Simonds

 

 

Andrew Skattum

Andrew was fortunate to attend a EAA chapter 582 event where he was offered the opportunity of a lifetime, to learn to fly in a Pietenpol Aircamper. He worked on his sport pilot license and progressed to earn a private pilot certificate. Shortly after a seaplane and instrument rating were added. Flying has been equally challenging and rewarding. An opportunity arose and he was able to purchase his first airplane, a 1975 Piper Arrow. Now based in Central Florida, Andrew flies for pleasure as well as occasionally business and has found pilots to be some of the best company one can keep.

See all articles by Andrew Skattum

 

 

Dan Sobczak

Dan Sobczak is the founder of Flight Chain app, a mobile app that helps pilots learn from accident chains and improve their ability to recognize and break a potential accident chain in their own flying. He authors the blog http://www.AheadOfThePowerCurve.com, a collection of columns and experiences designed to help pilots anticipate what could happen rather than just react to what is happening in any given moment. Dan’s most memorable flying moment is cruising over the magnificent snow-capped Rocky Mountains of Colorado with his father-in-law in Jane, a Cessna 182Q.

See all articles by Dan Sobczak

 

 

Peter Steinmetz

Peter N. Steinmetz is a research neurologist and computational neuroscientist. He was fascinated by flight and space from an early age but a busy career deferred his pilot training until 2015. Since then he has completed his instrument rating and commercial certificates in single engine airplanes and gliders. He is an advanced ground instructor and is working on his flight instructor certificates. He purchased a 1969 Cessna Cardinal prior to solo and enjoys flying it over the wild spaces of Arizona. He lives in Tempe, AZ, with his wife and four cats.

See all articles by Peter Steinmetz

 

 

Larry Stencel

Larry Stencel served a 20+ year career in the US Air Force from Vietnam to just before the first Gulf War. Most of his service was spent supporting flight testing at Edwards AFB, CA. After retirement, he started a second career with an aerospace company that built a large black airplane. For 17 years, he maintained a hangar at the Mojave, CA, airport and was one of the volunteers who helped put the Voyager around the world in 1986. Ultimately winding up in St Augustine, FL, before retiring, he decided to return to his Midwestern roots when he discovered the Wautoma airport on one of his early visits to Airventure. He holds both commercial pilot and A&P ratings and enjoys maintaining his own airplanes at his hangar at Wautoma.

See all articles by Larry Stencel

 

 

Mike Stirewalt

Mike grew up in Anchorage and soloed in 1965 at Merrill Field with instructor Nancy Howard, who later became a training captain for Boeing in Seattle. The weather and challenges of flying in Alaska have served him well in his mostly bush-work flying life, whether flying twins for the UN in Africa or navigating the Andes and jungles of South America. He’s currently retired and flying his KR-1½ out of Gillespie Field near San Diego, occasionally doing dynamic propeller balancing using the Dynavibe. That Turbo Arrow IV in the story is the only plane I’ve ever harmed.

See all articles by Mike Stirewalt

 

 

Chuck Stone

Chuck Stone lives on a small lake in the suburbs of Kansas City. He always says that he logged his first 1000 hours sitting backwards: he was a US Air Force tail gunner on a B-52 at the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union. That was about 40 years ago. After his discharge, he spent the next 10 years as a flight instructor and charter pilot in Connecticut, West Virginia, and Tennessee. He married Sandi in Kirksville, Missouri. The next 20 years of their life together, he flew mostly 19 passenger turboprops for a regional airline in Missouri and Wisconsin.

See all articles by Chuck Stone

 

 

Alex Swyryn

Alex did his first flying at fifteen, taking nine hours of instruction mostly out of Marlboro, MA (9B1) before running out of money. He joined the Army in 2001 to fly Apache helicopters and found himself on his first combat tour right out of flight school in 2003. He now has five years of combat deployments behind him, is a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and serves as an Apache Instructor Pilot at Ft. Hood, TX, providing instruction to Active, Guard and Reserve units all over the country. In early 2017 he received ratings for commercial, instrument, multi-engine fixed-wing as well as CFII helicopters. He is currently in the process of buying his first airplane, a Bellanca Super Viking.

See all articles by Alex Swyryn

 

 

Jules Tapper

“Aviation adventurer with a briefcase” is one way of describing Jules Tapper. A 4th generation Southlander from New Zealand ,he has from early years had an enduring passion for the outdoors, aviation, tourism and business. He co-founded the Hollyford Valley Walk & his own bush flying operation in Fiordland, NZ. Twelve years in senior positions in the corporate tourism/aviation industry capped a fascinating journey all over the world. He has served nationally in senior aviation positions in both commercial & private sector representative organisations along with local area trusts & promotional groups. He has flown nearly 10,000 hours on over 130 different types of aircraft, helicopters, gliders and paragliders over five decades and is still actively flying in all disciplines. In the 2010 Queens Birthday Honours he was conferred an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his long service to aviation & tourism.

See all articles by Jules Tapper

 

 

Herrie ten Cate

Herrie ten Cate started flying gliders with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets in 1979. He is active in the Vintage Gliding World and restored an LK-10A (a WW2 training glider) and flies it regularly. He also owns/flies a single seat Standard Jantar and has flown an FAI 500 km triangle flight with it in SW Ontario. He soloed a Slingsby Firefly in 1990 and at his gliding club, he has flown hundreds of hours in the club’s Pawnee and Citabria towplanes. He is also the host of The Thermal Podcast – a popular podcast for glider pilots.

See all articles by Herrie ten Cate

 

 

Michael Teninty

Proof of Michael’s love for flying began with the first logbook entry in 1996, logging a flight from Fairbanks to Ruby, Alaska in a Cessna 172. His first solo flight was recorded in Japan in 1998, while stationed as a medic with a US Marine unit. In 2002, the Private Pilot’s Certification was willfully earned. Commissioned as a Naval Aviator in 2004, military training encompassed areas of multi-engine, global reconnaissance experience and commercial multi/single-engine certifications and instrument ratings. Most recently, he completed the Certified Flight Instructor Certificate, intended to benefit personal and professional future achievements in aviation.

See all articles by Michael Teninty

 

 

Dean Thomas

Dean was born in Bryan, Texas, near the A&M College of Texas. After graduating from high school in 1956 he enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, NC as an 11 Bravo Infantryman. Upon separation from the Army in May, 1959, he returned home and enrolled at Texas A&M in Aeronautical Engineering after not having cracked a textbook in 3 years! He accepted a position with the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (NASA Houston) in the Landing and Recovery Division. He then accepted a position as a civilian flight test engineer for the U.S. Army Aviation Test Activity at Edwards AFB, flight testing helicopters. From Edwards, he accepted a position as an experimental flight test engineer at Bell Helicopter, and from there a position at Swearingen Aircraft, San Antonio, as flight test engineer on the Merlin III and the Metro turboprops. He has a Commercial License with Instrument, Glider, and Multi-Engine Ratings and is a Glider Instructor. He and his wife Jean have both flown competition aerobatics, but the thing that he is most proud of is flying 55 youngsters in the EAA Young Eagles program!

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Jerry Thomas

Jerry Thomas is a retired commercial artist living in Cary, IL. He has had a lifelong interest in way too many things, as his wife will attest. Jerry became a student pilot some 33 years ago, when he traded his commercial artwork abilities for flight time with a CFI. He is an active member of the EAA chapter at Galt Airport. He enjoys long walks in the woods with his dog, Rocko, an activity that his wife staunchly encourages, and is the long-time builder of a standard-gear Sonex that he hopes to complete sometime during this century.

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Charlie Tillett

Charlie Tillett gave himself the birthday present of an introductory flying lesson in 1988, bought his first airplane in 1992 and has owned at least one airplane ever since. During that time, he has flown 2,500 hours and completed 150+ Angel Flights. He and his wife live outside Boston and are currently using their Piper Meridian to travel around the country on a quest to play golf in all 50 states (OK, commercial to Hawaii).

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Jerry Tobias

Jerry grew up in central Kansas where his father farmed after flying Navy Hellcats during WWII. Although his father never flew again, Jerry was awed by the way he lived his life and riveted by his reluctantly shared flying stories, and it was his love and respect for this special man that ignited his passion for aviation. Jerry flew 747s (E-4Bs) and other types for the Air Force, MD-80s for Jet America and Alaska Airlines, and numerous corporate aircraft for Mutual of Omaha. However, he now really enjoys flying a pristine 1946 vintage Ercoupe.

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Robert Tock

Robert (Bob) learned to fly in a small town in Illinois and received his Private Pilot license on his 17th birthday. He attended college at Southern Illinois University, where he received an Associate’s degree in Avionics Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Technology. Bob enjoyed a 25 year career at the Boeing Company in St. Louis, where he managed development teams responsible for the integration of military avionic systems. Bob is currently a Director of Business Development for the Moog Aircraft Group in St. Louis. Bob purchased his first airplane in 2017, a 1966 Cherokee 180, and is currently working toward his Instrument Rating.

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Brooks Townes

Newspaper and magazine journalist Brooks Townes began sailing at age seven. He’s crossed the Atlantic in a square-rigger, several times sailed California to Hawaii, most coastal waters between Halifax and Juno, twice via Panama. He and Ernie Gann were shipmates. When he had to move inland for family in the 90s, Brooks took up soaring, soloing first at age 60, then monopolizing the Carolina Soaring Association’s G-102. His love of aviation really began in high school: a buddy had an early Waco UPF-7 in which the two did aerobatics over the Pacific, cutting classes when necessary. He’s retired on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

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Aaron Trueblood

Aaron is a student pilot with about 38 hours of flight time, all in 172s and in the Great Northwest of Montana. Always and forever a lover of aviation, he just soloed on his 16th birthday, and plans to complete his license the following year. After graduation he hopes to attend Purdue University and pursue Aeronautical Engineering, and then fly for a living. Aaron hopes to be able to spread his love of flight in the future by becoming a flight instructor and an ambassador for general aviation globally. He hopes to own an airstrip one day designed for meet and greets among pilots and the textbook pilot lounge. If you are interested or have questions you can contact him here: [email protected]

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Renato Tucunduva

Renato Tucunduva is a 57-year old Brazilian doctor who started taking flying lessons after graduating medical school in the seventies. For some time he even thought about changing careers, but decided to continue flying just for the fun of it. After renting planes for some years, he rebuilt a “vintage ” Citabria 7GCB, before changing to an Archer II. In Brazil these were made by Embraer under the name of Embraer 712 Tupi. The new plane allowed him to start traveling with the whole family through the immense country that is Brazil and they have still lots of places on their bucket list of flying.

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Charles Umphlette, Jr.

Charles (C.B.) Umphlette, Jr. has been a glider pilot for almost 30 years and has 1300 hrs. in sailplanes. He is a member of the Soaring Society of America and the Tidewater Soaring Society where he first soloed and has been a board member of the club for several years. He and his wife share a Schweizer 1-26B with a sports canopy and he also owns a Schweizer 1-35C. He is a member of the Vintage Sailplane Association and has participated in several of the International Vintage Sailplane Meets at Harris Hill , Elmira NY. He lives in Suffolk, Virginia with his wife, Marita Rea.

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Pushp Vaid

Pushp Vaid flew helicopters for 44 years and logged over 17500 hours in helicopters. His career began in the Indian Air Force in 1963, where he accumulated have over 3000 hours on the MI-4 Russian helicopter, mostly flying in the Himalayas. He left Indian Air Force in 1974 and migrated to the UK and joined British Airways helicopters, where he logged over 2500 hours in the Chinook. In 1993, he left British Airways helicopters and joined a Dutch company called Shriener helicopters, operating out of Nigeria. He now enjoys golf, cooking, and yoga.

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Tony Vallillo

Tony Vallillo is a retired American Airlines Captain and Air Force Pilot who currently flies Cessnas for the Civil Air Patrol. After college Tony entered USAF Pilot Training in 1971 and subsequently flew the C-141A and the C-5 on active duty and in the reserves. Joining American in 1977, he flew the 707, 727, Airbus A-300 and the 757/767 over a 31 year career that included stints in management as a check airman and chief pilot. Tony flies a Thorp T-211 SkySkooter when he is not instructing and evaluating pilots for CAP.

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Joris Van de Putte

Joris is a Belgian, married to a Brazilian woman, expat in Saudi Arabia who has his home base in the coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Flying has fascinated him since his first air baptism at the age of 12 because via technology – which is his profession and his hobby – the dream of moving in the 3rd dimension is realized. He evolved from aircraft modeling, over flight simulator to real flying in gliders in a 50s-built wooden Ka7. For several years he flew paragliders until he could afford an amphibious aircraft, which he operates from the tropical beach near his home.

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Aidan Van Pelt

Born in 1999, Aidan is a home-schooled high school graduate and is attending Liberty University as an Honors student. He is majoring in Aeronautics, and will be working towards his Instrument, Commercial, and CFI ratings before reaching his goal of being a missionary pilot. He has been fascinated with aviation his entire life, but the thrill of flying captured him during high school. He received his Private out of a grass strip in Northwest Florida in a Piper Cherokee at age 17. Aidan enjoys flying down the coast while not working at his local Chick-fil-a.

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Rene Vercruyssen

Rene Vercruyssen is a private pilot who flies an RV-4 and a Vultee Valiant BT-13 out of Chico, CA (KCIC) in northern California. He has 1600 hours in single engine airplanes, nearly half of which is in taildraggers. He manages a mining and road construction company when he is not flying.

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Darcy Vernier

Darcy Vernier was born in Palo Alto, California, and grew up in Great Falls, Montana. He attended high school in Brazil and received his BA from American University. In 1967 he was commissioned into the Marine Corps and attended flight school in Pensacola, FL. During the Vietnam War he flew CH-46 helicopters and was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses and Fifty Air Medals. Upon his release from the Marine Corps he went into commodity futures brokerage and didn’t fly more than a few hours for the next 18 years. In 1990 he returned to aviation, flying Twin Otters for Island Air in Hawaii. Once he made Captain he was off to Africa. There he flew UN missions in southern Sudan. Two articles about his experiences were published in the fall 1994 Harvard Review. Later, he flew 727s for Champion Air in the US, and 737s for Saudi Aramco Oil Company in Saudi Arabia. He was in Saudi Arabia on 9/11. He spent 6 years as a CFII in the Los Angeles area and now is a full time actor and writer.

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John Watt

John grew up one mile from the threshold of Runway 10 at Montreal-Dorval International Airport, and got to see a lot of big planes flying over his house at 300 feet. He got his license in 1974, then graduated with a chemical engineering degree, and flew as much as career, family and money allowed. After 41 years he finally got his instrument rating in 2015 and a new Cessna 206 in 2017, and has since enjoyed flying from New York to Toronto, Ottawa, St. Louis (for the eclipse), and Corpus Christi to visit family and friends.

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Chandler Webb

Chandler is an instrument-rated Commercial pilot working for Van’s Aircraft in their Aircraft Assembly Division. He started flying when he was 14, soloed at 16, earned his Private Pilot certificate at 17, Instrument Rating at 18, and Commercial certificate at 19. He is hoping to get his AAS degree in the fall and finish up his CFI and CFII, serve a mission for his church, and get his A&P. Chandler’s ultimate goal is to earn a bachelor’s degree in Aviation Management, where he hopes to start his own business in aviation. He is the youngest of four kids and says he has the most wonderful family, who loves and supports him fully and unconditionally.

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Andreas Windisch

Andreas was born and raised in Austria, where he also took his first flying lessons at the age of 16. After quitting flight school without earning a certificate, he joined the military as a paratrooper and participated in several missions. Five years later, he started studying physics, received a PhD in theoretical physics in 2014 and accepted an appointment as a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2017, he finally earned his private pilot certificate. Andreas is married to a wonderful wife, has a son and a daughter, and is very passionate about flying.

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John Winter

Being the son of a retired Air Force Major and born on an airbase, John has been around airplanes all his life. His first experience in an actual airplane was in a Vari-Eze that his dad helped a friend build and he has been in love with flying ever since. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to start flight training until he was in his 30s and even then life got in the way. Now in his 40s, he is working toward finishing up his training and looking to build a homebuilt in the future. He has also volunteered with his EAA chapter over the last several years during Young Eagles events and hopes to move up from ground crew to flying the kids once he has finished his flight training.

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Rick Winter

Rick is presently an independent financial and operational executive and consultant. Rick started his life-long love of aviation building and flying model planes in high school, which led to earning a BS in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA from The University of Texas. Early in his career he was a flight test engineer certifying the Windecker Eagle. Among others, he has held executive roles in corporate finance for Piper Aircraft and Dee Howard. Earning his Private Pilot license in 1970, Rick holds multi-engine and instrument ratings and has accumulated over 1900 hours in over 30 different airplanes.

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Tyler Wisbar

Tyler Wisbar started learning to fly while a junior in high school. After that, he worked through other ratings and became a CFI. He flew as a Citation 560 copilot and then Beech 99 Captain before hiring into his current First Officer position at a regional airline in the Midwest. He currently lives in Akron, Ohio, and volunteers for the Akron Props & Pistons Festival airshow. His favorite flights are spent practicing grass landings in a local flight school’s Piper Cub and flying his mom to breakfast every year for Mothers day. Future aspirations include flying the EAA Ford Trimotor.

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John Wise

John Wise is currently a full time CFI/CFII at Sundance Flight Academy located at KHSD/Sundance Airport in N.W. Oklahoma City. He started flying at the age of 14 in an Aeronca Champ, soloed at age 16 in 1971 and after graduating from high school served as an air traffic controller at Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH. He has had many careers but is most well known as a radio personality in the 1980’s and early 90’s in the Oklahoma City metro area. He obtained his private pilot certificate in 1986 and went on to earn his instrument, commercial, multi-engine and CFI/CFII ratings from 1987-2017. If he isn’t at the airport, you can find him on the tennis courts at Oak Tree Country Club with Diane, his wife of 36 years. He loves motivating and encouraging people of all ages using his love of flying.

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Jim Workman

Jim Workman lives, with his wife Brenda, in Zanesville, Ohio. He currently flies a restored Ercoupe 415-C without rudder pedals, but still wears a Luscombe cap. He formerly lived in Batavia, Ohio, where he started his career teaching English and American literature at Clermont Northeastern. He was a charter member of the Clermont County Pilots Association and involved in the development of Clermont County Airport, and hiring Bill Burchett, the first FBO. He thanks the late Don and Pat Fairbanks for taking him through his Private Pilot ticket at Cardinal Air Training in 1966 for less than $600.

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Rich Wyeroski

Rich is coming up on 50 years as a pilot. Aviation always interested him since getting a ride from his godfather in his BT-13 when he was 12 years old. Initially Rich was working in the graphic arts industry and used an aircraft to make sales calls all over the Mid-Atlantic states. Becoming an instructor was something he really wanted. He has all the ratings and worked hard for each and everyone. Jobs consisted of flight instruction, a contract pilot, and working for a few 135 operators over the years. Today Rich still instructs and flies his own aircraft, since he has owned an aircraft going back to 1970. His other job is performing aircraft maintenance and doing owner-assisted annuals, as well as teaching new A&P mechanics at a school.

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Brian Yanowski

Brian is an instrument-rated Private Pilot currently living in San Diego, California, with his wife and two daughters. A former Army officer, Brian has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, in addition to conducting several humanitarian missions in Vietnam, Laos, and India. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Missouri, Saint Louis (UMSL) and a Bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State University. Currently, Brian is working on his Commercial License (Part 141) in pursuit of his next career goal as a Regional Airline pilot.

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John Yodice

John Yodice is a senior partner of the Law Offices of Yodice Associates, a law firm experienced in aviation legal matters involving corporate governance, DOT, FAA, and TSA certification and compliance, aircraft transactions, and more. He is an accomplished instrument rated commercial pilot and flight instructor, single engine land and sea, multiengine land, and rotorcraft helicopter. He and the firm’s legal staff have extensive experience of over 50 years in representing certificated individuals and companies faced with FAA investigations and enforcement. The firm manages legal services plans for commercial aviation entities, their employees and contractors, and other associations, and works regularly with over 700 correspondent counsel throughout the Country and Internationally. The firm regularly publishes articles and conducts seminars to help educate the aviation industry and their lawyers on many of these topics.  He is well-known for his monthly “Pilot Counsel” column in the AOPA PILOT magazine that ran for many years.

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David Yonker

David acquired his Private Pilot License in 1980, and his Commercial in 1993. His marina is right next to the Johnson Lake Airport, so he parks my plane 400 feet from his home, the lake and his business. Many call him Captain, because of the marina, his close pilot friends call him “Triple Nickel” because of his tail number: N555DY. The airport being so close to his work was a factor when buying his business, as they both feed two of his major addictions, flying and water sports.

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Fred Zanegood

Fred Zanegood is a Commercial Pilot, SEL/MEL; Instrument Airplane, Advanced Ground Instructor, Instrument Ground Instructor, Remote Pilot sUAS. His love of aviation was fostered early on by trips to the airport with his father, picking out which airliner belonged with which commanding voice emanating from their small transistor air-band radio. He’s accrued several hundred hours flying traffic patrol, slow and steady over the skies of South Florida, worked in the marketing end of things for industry flight simulation and publishing companies, and continues to fly when life allows. His eclectic skillset includes an educational background in computer programming, electronics, and audio engineering. When not flying–or wishing he were–Fred enjoys doing voice-over work, cycling, playing drums, and spending time with family.

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Jerry Ziegler

Jerry Ziegler lives in Cherry Hill, NJ, with his wife, Christine, and son, Cash. He is an elementary school teacher and has always had a love of flying. He things he inherited this love from his grandfather, who was also a pilot back in the 60s and 70s. He flies out of The Flying W in Medford, NJ, where he is a member of the Freeflight Aviation flying club. He is currently working on his Private Pilot certificate while trying to enjoy all the adventures and enjoyment of life with his wife and son.

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John Zimmerman

Coming from an aviation family, John grew up in the back of small airplanes and learned to fly as a teenager. Ever since, he has been hooked on anything with wings and regularly flies a Citabria, a Pilatus PC-12 and a Robinson R44 helicopter. He is an ATP and also holds ratings for multiengine, seaplanes, gliders, and helicopters. In addition to being Editor-in-Chief of Air Facts, John is a Vice President at Sporty’s Pilot Shop, responsible for new product development and marketing.

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