I always had an interest in aviation from a young age. I grew up 1/2 mile from an ag-helicopter operation. In high school I was in an air explorers scout club. I helped an A/P rebuild a 4 cylinder Lycoming from a Cessna 150. My father wasn’t enthused about my taking flying lessons and I wasn’t able to do that in high school. He strongly encouraged me to go to a merchant marine engineering school and be a professional mariner as he was. I did that but was not thrilled with it. I saved a large percentage of my income and after 3 1/2 years I went to a Part 141 flight school in Colorado in June 1988.
I began with 0 hours and 11 months later I attained CML,CFI,INSTR. CFII,ME, MEI. I also joined a flying club in Fort Collins and rented a Varga Kachina. I did a lot of mountain flying cross country flights along the Rockies to northern New Mexico. I also got some dual in a SuperCub in Boulder. After graduating I went to Skagit County where one of my resumes went to and I was offered an interview. I got hired and instructed in C150, C152 Aerobat, C172, C182 and got checked out to tow the Grob 103 with a Cessna 150 Sparrow Hawk with a leading edge cuff and 8.50 tires. I also got a CFIG in the Grob. As winter came on, there was little work so I decamped for California. I got hired at a flying Club in Camarillo. I instructed in usual Cessnas and got checked out in a Twin Comanche a UAL pilot owned and rented to CFIs. I did some instrument training and rented it myself a bit to increase my ME PIC time. I heard about a commuter starting in Oxnard. I applied and was hired. I got checked out in a Metro II as F/O. Working hours available were a little low and I had spoken with a local aircraft ferry company. They called and asked if I wanted to take a C210 from Arkansas to South Africa. I agreed. I flew a Caravan first as F/O from Oxnard to Mena, ARK. Then I met another pilot taking a second C210 to South Africa. He was going to lead the flight. He had the Sat.Nav unit and I followed. This was pre GPS days. It was an interesting flight.
Soon after getting back to Oxnard I received a call from Rocky Mountain Airways. I’d sent resumes to several airlines as I didn’t think the Metro II commuter was a long term job. I interviewed and was hired in June 1990 with a seniority number for Continental. I trained on Beech 1900C. I flew that for 2 years and then went to training on ATR-42. Seniority lists for all Continental commuters in EWR, CLE, IAH, DEN were combined and I had to go to EWR. Fortunately when I got there they were looking for volunteers to go to Manchester, NH sub base. I was there for a year until they closed it and then I went to Allentown, PA.
One day a UPS pilot was jumpseasting with us. At the end of flight I mentioned I had been sending UPS resumes for several years. He asked for my resume which I pulled out of my flight bag. He invited me to his house outside Manchester. We talked for a few hours and he said he would give me a recommendation. About a month later I got called in to interview. I was hired. I was trained as a 727 FE. After 10 months I was awarded DC-8 F/O. 2 years later I went to 747-100 F/O. 2 years later I went to 757/767 international. I did that for about 4 years and then upgraded to 767/757 Captain. 5 years later, 2007, I went to Anchorage and the 747-400 and -8 a few years later. All along the way I kept flying GA at flying clubs. I flew sailplanes in PA, Colorado and Nevada. I towed sailplanes in Colorado in a SuperCub and towed gliders in Penn.in L-19 BirdDogs. After moving to Alaska I bought a SuperCub and ferried it to Alaska from Oregon. A few years later I bought an Experimental SuperCub and ferried it from Douglas, Wyoming to Alaska. .
I flew it all over Alaska on hunting, fishing, and camping trips including along north slope of Brooks Range. I had Edo 3000s and put about 400 hours of float time on them. I had AirGlas wheel/skis and got instruction in Talkeetna for glacier flying. I did quite a bit of that in winter. I landed on glaciers above Alyeska ski area in Chugach range, Kenai mountains, Harding Ice field above Seward, up to Talkeetna mountains and in Alaska Range to the Ruth Glacier up to Sheldon hut area and Moose’s Tooth glacier. Glacier flying and float flying in the mountains was my favorite. There was a number of hunting trips for caribou and ptarmigan hunting with my German shorthairs. Fishing trips in Kenai mountains and out to Lake Illiamna area. I flew 9 years and a little over 900 hours in that aircraft in Alaska.
After moving to Cody, I bought a Cessna 206 for camping trips to Idaho, Montana and Utah backcountry airstrips and carry my hunting dogs. I sold it in Oct. 2024 and bought a RV-8. Now I enjoy flying my RV-8. I’m going to put larger tires and wheel pants on it for trips into Idaho and NW Montana airstrips. I plan on getting some aerobatic instruction soon to get recurrent in that art and do some gentleman style aerobatics. Trips to Oshkosh and maybe west Texas are planned too.
