At the end of 1995, after almost two years of living and working in beautiful Cape Town, I said goodbye to some pretty terrific people and returned home to Texas.

I got a job at Air Products in the Lab and got to fly almost every week as a co-pilot in Lear Jets, a Westwind 1123 and then a Jetstar II - the Jetstar on my days "off." The jet experience was due in large part by being lucky enough to know a local pilot named Jere Cobb. Jere was an ex-marine aviator, Test Pilot and a NASA Pilot who was then doing a lot of Corporate free-lance in the left seat. Jere taught me a lot about aviation, for which I will always be grateful.

On a personal note, while there, I bought a big two story house and thought that things would work out, but that wasn't to be. My wife had never really gotten over leaving home and after 10 years we divorced. She returned to Cape Town with our son Matthew in 1997.

With nothing keeping me there at that point, I made the BIG decision to move to South Florida and pursue my aviation dream.