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Rick Abell

Rick Abell

Rick was an engineer for the USAF for 32 years and worked on the development of every USAF tactical aircraft type from 1964 to 1997. He was chief USAF engineer for the YF-22 and YF-23, F-22, C-17 and a classified airplane. He is now retired and loving it (he did a little part time aerospace consulting after retiring from the USAF). He has a Private Pilot ASEL, ASES, and tailwheel endorsement. He is the co-owner of a 1946 Ercoupe and the sole owner of an Aerolite 103. He spends the winter skiing in Steamboat Springs when it’s too cold to fly in Ohio.

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Timothy Acker

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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Jim Adams

Jim Adams

James Adams has been flying since the early 80s. He currently flies his Beech C55 Baron out of Houston but also spends a lot of time flying with his brother-in-law in his Maule and Searey Amphib out of upstate NY. Eight years ago they flew the Maule to Alaska and back and once a year fly the Baron to the Bahamas. James has commercial, instrument, and single and multi-engine seaplane ratings in addition to his SEL and MEL.

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Serrhel Adams

Serrhel Adams

Serrhel Adams obtained his pilot's license in 1986. While he's had some breaks from flying since, he's flown consistently since 2009. He is an Instrument rated Commercial Land and Seaplane pilot. He regularly flies a Cirrus SR22T, Cub Crafters X-Cub, and GameComposites GB1. Serrhel has been dabbling in photography since the days of film canisters in high. He posts some videos and photos online under #Oldguysfly.

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Dale Agner

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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Casey Ahlbum

Casey Ahlbum

Casey caught the aviation bug at a young age, flying around New England with his dad in a 1966 Piper Cherokee. Adult life got in the way for a few decades as he built a corporate career and raised a family. In 2021, at the age of 50, he finally achieved his dream of becoming a pilot. Flying out of Pompano Beach, Florida, he serves on the board of his local flying club while spending as much time as possible flying with friends and family, sharing his journeys on YouTube. Midlife Flying Crisis - YouTube An instrument rated private pilot with over 250 hours, he is currently pursuing his commercial certificate with a goal of becoming CFI so that he can share his love of flying with the next generation of aviators.

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Cary Alburn

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

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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Pete Alexander

Pete Alexander

Pete Alexander grew up as a third-generation aviator in his family, his grandfather having been a pilot from pre-WWII on and his father from post-WWII on. He got his Private Pilot certificate as soon as he was old enough and has been flying ever since – including a stint in the Navy and too many commercial gigs to even recount. He lives in San Diego and recently published his first book about college baseball – A Season by the Sea – on Amazon-Kindle.

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Peter Allen

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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Khaled Alok

Khaled Alok

My surgical training brought me into the aviation world! I used to watch NTSB investigations where I admired the honest analysis of mistakes and the drive to use a tragedy to make flying a safe and enjoyable experience. When moving from Lebanon to the United States in 2023 for further surgical training, I quickly sought out nearby flying schools in Long Island, New York. I began private pilot lessons even before getting my DMV license. The experience has been incredibly rewarding. It made me a better person and a better surgeon.

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Ken Ambrose

Ken Ambrose

Ken Ambrose holds an ATP with more than a dozen type ratings ranging from light jets to 757-767. His business regularly consults on aviation management and airport real estate. www.ambrosecorporation.com.

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Warren Anderson

Warren Anderson

Warren Anderson first soloed a T-34C in student flight surgeon training and then qualified in the back seat of the F-14A Tomcat with a cruise around the world aboard USS Enterprise. This began a 26 year medical and operational career of adventure in the US Navy. His Super Decathlon was followed by an Extra 200 for Advanced competition and air shows. After a two-decade hiatus he is back in the cockpit in his GB1 GameBird. He flies out of PGD Punta Gorda in southwest Florida.

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Santiago Arbelaez

Santiago Arbelaez

Santiago is a a 51-year old urologist, living in Medellin, Colombia. He did his first solo flight at 15. He loves flying and sailing, but aerobatics is his deep, real passion.

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Rick Armellino

Rick Armellino

Rick Armellino is a general aviation pilot who has accumulated over 6100 hours since soloing 52 years ago. Most of his flight time has been accumulated in three different Mooneys he’s owned and used extensively for personal business travel throughout the US. He needed a way to pay for the flying bug, so he became a self-employed traveling sales representative flying to potential customer locations to demonstrate multiple types of hazardous law enforcement and military equipment…like weaponry, tear gas, flash bang grenades, pepper sprays, and other products not permitted on passenger airliners. In 2003 he decided it was time for a career change and took time off to improve his aviation skill sets obtaining the Commercial, Multi, CFI and CFI-I credentials. Afterwards, Rick started a new business designing, manufacturing, and marketing a patented line of personal protective armor products, in which he still uses a Mooney to expedite sales and logistics. He believes flying improves mental health, plus the challenges and enjoyment found in almost every flight are a great form of therapy that helps to maintain sanity and purpose.

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Ed Arness

Ed Arness

Edward J. Arness lives in Leavenworth, Washington, and has been flying out of Pangborn Memorial Airport in Wenatchee (EAT) most of the last few years, flying all the Cessna models including 206 and Turbo 206. He is a Commercial, instrument-rated pilot on land and sea and has spent some flight time in Alaska as well as four seasons for the United States Forest Service in Washington and Idaho. The private flights and charter flights (Part 135) he has done have taken him to 26 states and four Canadian Provinces. Ed says he is still current in flight with a Second Class Medical and very blessed with great health.

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Matt Askin

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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Cris Atkin

Cris Atkin

Born in 1966, Cris Atkin was just old enough to remember the moon landings. He has always had a healthy (?) interest in aviation, with the stated goal of being an astronaut. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout, and for a reward toured the Johnson Space Center, escorted by Dr. Don Lind. Cris earned his Private Pilot Certificate in 1985, and joined the Army in 1988. Using his GI Bill benefits, Cris earned his A&P, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Technology Management. He now works as an A&P, owns a Cessna 152 SparrowHawk, and flies whenever he can. He is working on his IFR, Commercial, and CFI.

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Gennaro Avolio

Gennaro Avolio

Gennaro (Bill) Avolio was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and took his first flight lesson on January 13, 1946. He worked as a mechanic (including time as a crew chief on P-51s) and was in the Oregon Air National Guard for 24 years. He spent time as an instructor pilot in the T-33, F-94B, F-89 and F-102, and even performed atomic cloud sampling. A commercial pilot, flight instructor and A&P, he holds the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.

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