Every month we'll pick a pilot to recognize as Flight Captain. I've put lots of information in this first article to give you an idea of what kinds of things I'll be looking for if I should contact you. You won't be asked to give up ALL your secrets but please feel as though you can tell us about any aspect of your aviation career (real or simulated) and your interests inside and outside TCA.

Who knows, you might be our next "Flight Captain". I want to say 'Thanks' from the CEO, the Division Managers and the staff for making TCA such a special airline.

This month say "Hi!" to Captain, Richard Nathan, pilot no. 2519.
"I guess I'll start with the beginning. I grew up in a small lumber mill town in the Cascade Mountain range of Oregon. When I was about ten years old my parents moved to the Sacramento Valley in California. My dad worked for the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic repairing engines on T-29's, C-54's, C-119's, C-123's, RC-121's, T-33's, 34's and 37's, and just about any other reciprocating engine and some jets that showed up at Mather Air Force Base. The air base was home to the west coast training wing for navigators. But you'd also see planes from McClellan AFB (the west coast supply depot), Travis AFB (the west coast troop embarkation point) and Beale AFB (the spy plane air base) and a few others just passing through.

Of course I got to 'hang out' at the air base with my dad and that's when the aviation bug probably bit me. I climbed through all kinds of airplanes during my dads career as a mechanic. We'd go out and stick our heads up into the wheel well of an airplane he was working on, or climb the work stand to reach into an engine. Sometimes I would get a tour of the interior of some plane.

During that time I was lucky enough to see the first B-52 arrive at Mather AFB and I was there when the last one left just a few years ago. I have crawled through and around B-36's, B-47's, B-58's, B-52's, C-130's, C-5's, not to mention the T-29's and C-54's and an occasional T-6. 

My dad also took up the hobby of building and flying radio controlled planes. We'd see the real ones every day of the week and on the weekends we'd drive out to an abandoned air strip and all his friends would do their best not to lose or crash their planes. Those were the days when sophistocated radios didn't exist for model planes. Citizens Band Radio was just being introduced and the planes operated in the same frequency range as the CB radio. That made for some very interesting flights as someone would key their radio to talk and you were flying at the same time. 

The summer after graduating from high school, I managed to get my first small plane ride with Union Flights, a company that was hired by Pacific Telephone to survey its lines and cables from the air. I rode with them for the entire summer and with the help of the 'Union flights' instructor/pilots, I managed to get enough hours for my private pilots license without spending any money except for a few lunches for my hosts. I was able to fly several other tail draggers as time passed. Aeronca's, Taylorcrafts, Piper Cubs and a couple tricycle geared planes also. A Cessna 185 and a Piper Tri-Pacer. 

I joined the Navy at the height of the Vietnam conflict and served on Submarines and Mine Sweepers. I was a bit of outsider though because I'd build model planes while 'standing my watch' (that's military talk meaning 'at work') and when we'd arrive in a port I'd assemble planes on the deck and head for the nearest baseball park to fly them. 

While in the Navy on the submarine, I took photos of S2F Trackers flying just above the wave tops that had been hunting us during training missions. I also took pictures from CH-16 SeaKing helicopters and the famous Huey UH-1's helicopters. 

The weekend that I got out of the service I met my future wife and 30 years later I am still married to the same wonderful woman. I have two adult sons, fantastic young men. I'm very lucky to have a wife who knows that I love planes and lets me talk about them, compute with them, build models of them and gawk at the sky to watch them. She even pays attention to what kind she's riding on during her business travels and tells me all about the journey when she's home again. Wow!

Although I can't fly any longer due to a disability, I fly many hours a week in Flightsim 2000. I'm kind of a 'nut' about it as I have nearly 4 gigabytes of files and some 2000 hours of flight time. It encompasses 110 planes, 140 panels, 90 sounds and just about all the scenery I can grab. I still fly the low and slow taildraggers and a few turboprops and while I have an unlimited certificate with Tradewinds I like to fly for Tradewind Domestic Mail and the Alaska division. I like the island hops and bush flights.

I also like Formula 1 racing, soccer and sailing. I used to design yachts and if there were a sailing simulator as good as FS2000, I'd be sailing for the TCA Cup team, most likely as a navigator. I've been fortunate to have sailed across the Pacific Ocean 6 times and I've visited nearly all the islands west of the U.S.

Now I'm settled in a small town just northeast of Seattle, near the water but also near SeaTac airport. I watch the skies and the waters as much as I can. There's never a dull moment. Up here you get to see a lot of float-planes which are always a treat.

There is no question that TCA is the best experience I've had in all my computing years. Through my membership in TCA I've made some wonderful friends. Thanks."

IB: I hope you can see what the 'Captain of the Month' is all about. Now it's someone elses turn to jump into the spotlight. Rick Nathan, editor
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