Kershner was the Ace of Ace Aerobatic School—and he had the bona fides to back it up. Bill had soloed at fifteen and, by nineteen, was teaching aerobatics. Before he turned twenty-five, he was flying an F4U Corsair off the USS Philippine Sea in the early 1950s. Later, he worked as a corporate pilot, a test pilot, and an author. He penned five flight manuals (one of which sold over a million copies).
Max Karant was a celebrity in general aviation circles. Starting as an editor for Flying magazine in the 1940s, Max went on to become one of the founders of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). Early in his career, he had headed the FAA off at the pass when they tried to gobble up airspace and hamstring general aviation. He provided hours of congressional testimony in this effort, and it paid off with the freedoms we enjoy in GA today.
Diane tasked Charlie Stanton, a USMC veteran of WWII, to instruct me in the craft and discipline of an instrument-rated pilot. Tall, lean, opinionated, and looking perpetually pissed off about something, Charlie was all business. He didn’t mince his words either, speaking in that clipped, point-blank manner of the military. He could have been a character from a Pat Conroy novel.