"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." |