My first flight in a general aviation plane was with a pilot in West Virginia, named Lee Massey. (WV01) Mr. Massey owned a truck stop on US Route 60 and took me and my father for a ride over Charleston. I was 11 years old. It must have made quite an impression, as I remember the flight now 57 years later!
As a young man, I had ambitions to become a Naval Aviator. But, back in those days, pilots were required to have perfect eyesight and in my freshman year of college, I developed a degree of myopia and required glasses. So, my goal to be a fighter pilot was thwarted, but my interest in flying continued.
As a business executive in Youngstown, Ohio, I chartered a plane with pilot to fly to a factory site in West Virginia. (Ravens Trailer in Parkersburg) My first flight and only general aviation flight under IFR conditions.
I flew in a glider near my parent's farm in Waynesville, OH. It was great. As soon as I had sufficient income, I started taking flying lessons.
My first solo flight as a Student Pilot was at Camarillo Airport in Southern California. I flew a Cessna C152.
I moved to Dallas, Texas and completed my training at Denton Airport, earning my Private Pilot license in 1980.
I purchased (50% interest) a new Piper Turbo Arrow III (like the one in the left picture) and leased it to the flight school at Denton. I flew that plane and other Piper Cherokee types models all over North Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. My "flying world" was within a 800 x 300 mile rectangle.
Most of my flying was during a time when I was employed as a corporate executive. (VP Fleet Management for Trailways Inc.). I quit there and started my long entrepreneurial "career". Anyone that has been an entrepreneur knows that money is tight during the start-up phase--a private plane was just not in the cards. So we sold the plane and stopped flying in 1982.
Happy to say the entrepreneurial activities (related to auto repair, auto parts and vehicle leasing) were quite successful. (I have been very blessed.) But, instead of going back to flying, I engaged in my other expensive motorsports passion--racing. Sports Cars, Formula Cars, and even NASCAR Winston Cup.
Along the way, after several entrepreneurial ventures, and a very serious racing accident in 1988, I quit racing and went back to school to earn an MBA from the Wharton School. Then a career in Investment Management. And in 2011, a return to racing. When I no longer felt comfortable competing on the track as a "hobby" in "real" life (the young "turks" were just too aggressive) I continued racing in the "virtual" world of Sim Racing. I was good enough at it that I coached others--especially "over 60" drivers. (I also became a Christian Chaplain with Racers For Christ serving as the Regional Chaplain for the SCCA Mid-Atlantic Region for a season and IRacing. I served for a season with Road Racing Ministries as a Chaplain for SCCA Pro Trans Am Series.)
Below is a video I made for training/coaching drivers for the famous Nurburgring Circuit driving a Ferrari.
Still, my thoughts were often on flying. (Simulation is fun, but not the same as real life--in race cars or planes.) I developed colon cancer in 2016 with a good recovery and prognosis after surgery (I have been very blessed.) but the experience (along with the passing of some of my friends and clients) reinforced the need to make decisions regarding my "late in life" activities. Approaching professional "retirement" I decided that I would get back into flying. Not in a high performance plane, but rather a "fly for fun" plane. And, to me, there is no better one for that than the Cubcrafters Sport Cub. A Light Sport (860 pound) plane, with a 110 HP engine that cruises at around 85-90 mph and lands at less than 50 mph in less than 800 feet.
All about the Sport Cub
Well, 34 years, to some is a long time. But, I still have many vivid memories of that flying in Texas and Louisiana. It really does not seem that long ago. Funny thing about becoming an old man---time seems to move faster as you get older.
But, to most, I would be called a "Rusty Pilot" so getting "current" and "re-qualified" will be the first part of the adventure.
Many will recall the great Hemingway story, "The Old Man and the Sea". Well, at age 67, I am the Old Man, and my story is the Old Man and His Plane.
For awhile, my new "flying world" is the NE-MidAtlantic--avoiding the Class B airspace. About the same number of square miles (800 x 500 with irregular shape) as I flew in Texas and Louisiana.
Note: I adjust dates so blog can be read in "book" format in normal chronological order, rather than "blog" format. So to continue reading--Click the "Older Posts"
