My Flying Pics

When I was a young teenager my father and I joined the Civil Air Patrol. He as a Senior Member, I as a Cadet. We had some fun, and I learned a bit about the military as well as flying. I was able to get a few lessons in a pair of Cessna 150s, and occasionally a 172 while I was in the CAP. I made it to the grade of Cadet Master Seargent and was nominated to go to the United States Air Force Academy, though due to certain hearing problems I declined to go.

This is me back in 1988, a 16 year old CAP cadet at an Airshow at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. I'm standing in front of a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle Though I thought they were neat, I wasn't overly enamoured with the F-15 Eagle, instead, I was interested in two other aircraft: the A-10 "Warthog" or the C-130 Hercules. Fast and high didn't excite me. Down in the brush did!

Also taken in 1988, I'm giving my coolest pose in front of a Cessna 182. I guess I watched Top Gun one too many times!

Ahhh.....now HERE is an AIRPLANE! I really like the DeHavilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver. I've got a little unoffical stick time in this one, but I'm not supposed too.....I've recently considered re-joining the CAP in order to get to fly one "officially". Like a Pratt and Whitney (makers of the Beaver's engine) salesman once told me "Real airplanes have round engines!"

After going to college and getting married, I put flying into the back of my mind. It was still there, and I avidly read everything I could get my hands on, but after the dissapointment of not making it to the Academy, I felt I would never get my license. When Tanya and I made a trip to Washington and Oregon in January of 1999, we got to stop very briefly at the Tillamook Air Museum. That put flying back in the forefront of my mind. Then, Phil and I had the opportunity to go to the Reno National Championship Airraces. Boy did THAT relight my fire!

This is Tangerine. A really nice Lockheed P-38 Lighting belonging to the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, Oregon. TAM has a fantastic collection of vintage aircraft, mainly World War II warbirds from several nations. They also have some WWI and more modern aircraft. I was only was able to spend about 2 hours there, but I shot something like 4 rolls of film!

Also at Tillamook, I'm standing in front of a Grumman F-14 Tomcat. This aircraft saw actual combat in the Gulf War and is on loan to TAM from the US Navy. Tanya really likes the F-14, but I think that has something to do with a date movie she and I once went to....

When my wife asked me if she could go to her friend's wedding in Las Vegas, Nevada, without me (I couldn't get time off right then) I happened to be on the phone with my close friend Phil. He jokingly said "If she gets to go to Vegas, we can go to Reno!" The thought took root, and we soon had tickets to the National Championship Airraces. It was a great time, and we plan to go again in a couple years. The North American P-51D Mustang I'm standing in front of is known as Miracle Maker and is a sharp looking plane.

This Albatross training jet was at Reno as well. The Canadian aerobatic display team, The Northern Lights, had just purchased one, in preparation to having a Jet Demo team as well as using their Extra 300 aircarft. Sharp looking aircraft even if it was designed in the old Warsaw Pact!

After making the decision to finally get my license, I was at the Alaska Flying Network on January 2nd, 2000. I met with the owner and purchased the materials I would need to get my license, and signed up for a ground school. I started flying January 21, 2000.

February 29, 2000....A date that will live like a bright beacon in my memories. I soloed that day, just 20 days before my daughter was born. Zach (the guy on the right) was my instructor at that time. The aircraft was N4791Q, a Cessna 152. The flight was only about 15 minutes or so, basically up and around the airport a couple times, then back to earth. I didn't quit smiling for a week!

Here is a summer time shot of the aircraft I soloed in. The Network owns a pair of 152s, and I prefer "The Red Fox" as we call Niner-One-Quebec (when there aren't many planes in the pattern, the tower and pilots will shorten their callsigns to the last three characters of their tail number so 4791Q becomes Niner-One Quebec). She just seems a bit more sprightly and fun to fly.

The other 152 is N757VW or Seven-Victor-Wiskey. I love the callsign! I get some odd looks when I'm talking to non-pilots and I call the airplane that. They ask if there is a rule against flying drunk....I tell them no smoking 8 hours before flying and no drinking within a hundred feet of the plane!

During my training, two very neat aircraft came to town: A Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress called Nine-O-Nine and a Consolidated B-24G Liberator called Dragon and his Tail. Tanya, Shayla and my dad went to see the planes. Quite a rush! I really like the old heavy iron.

While flying around my home base in Kenai, I often run into Military aircraft doing practice approaches. Kenai is much less crowded then the base in Anchorage, and we are equipped for instrument approaches. This is a Lockheed C-130 passing me--he's on final, I'm on the downwind leg of my pattern.

Another view of the same Herky-bird, on a later landing. Here is right over the threshold, and I'm throttling back to start my base turn in just a minute. I keep a close eye on where he lands so I can avoid his wake turbulence.

This is probably the picture I'm most proud of out of all my aircraft pictures. It was taken by a complete stranger in Talkeetna, Alaska on my long cross country flight. Your solo is great, but flying an aircraft several hundred miles by yourself for the first time is an incredible rush you won't EVER forget! Major confidence builder.

Now that I'm a licensed pilot, I fly as much as I can. I also keep training. I'd like to someday get my commercial license and maybe make flying my career. Who knows? Anything is possible!