When I was barely three years of age, my father had taken my brother and I to the air force base where there was as large field at the end of the runway. There we could watch and hear the fighter jets, and airliners come and go. The 10-cent chuck gliders kept us running around and having fun.
For as long as I can remember I've always liked airplanes of all shapes and sizes. When I was 10, I would hang around the library and knew where all the good books were in the aviation section. The model airplane books captivated my interest the most, but the designs were very complex and advanced.
My first airplane ride came that same year, when I got to go with the kid down the street in his father's Cessna 185, I never got airsick and I was really hooked on airplanes for good. Years went by and the models kept my interest, through thick and thin, good times and bad, I always had something to look forward to in the next airplane project.
 I joined the Military Reserve at age 20 and got to work on real airplanes like C130 Hercs, and Chinook Helicopters. That's when I realized that the ones having the adventures were the pilots.
Plenty of years went by as I struggled to complete high school and some college. My heart was not in college so I gave it up and in 1984 I began my pilot training at age 24, which was a bit late for starters. I finished my Private Licence after two months of lessons and I was on my way.
My first job as a real pilot was like many, at the local flying school and
I began my real education in flying by teaching others to learn to fly. My
hours grew and over a period of two years I worked at five different flying
schools to advance up the ladder of success and also spent some time flying
for a small regional airline in central Canada. The pay was not fantastic but
the fact that someone was paying me to fly him or her around was the “pie in
the sky”.
In 1992 I joined a flying operation that began using civilian flight instructors to teach the primary training for Military Pilots, I had made it full circle. The road was bumpy, and at times stressful, but I never gave up on a dream of flying higher performance airplanes. I was now able to fly in formation and do aerobatics, something that was never available to learn in civil flight school. |
Our gang, on the last leg, of the last flight,
on the last day, of 12 years of working for this last company. 
