Aviation & Flying 

• Since I was little, maybe eight (8) years old or so I was interested in airplanes. I read about them, built models of them, both plastic non-flying and balsa wood & paper flying kinds. I loved World War Two aircraft, I could not get enough material to read about them, pictures, etc. This is circa 1965, World War Two was over about twenty years already.
• My Dad took me to Lincoln Park Airport to show me around one day. Lincoln Park, at that time, was run by Mr. Ed Gorski. He was a patient (Dad was a dentist) of my Dad's and wound up a  friend. He was quite a colorful fellow. Of his many aviation accomplishments, he was once a mechanic for Amelia Earhart . Well, I started taking flying lessons in 1972. I paid for them with money I made cutting lawns, mainly our own (Dad subsidized this effort you see). I wasn't old enough to drive and it was too far to walk, so my Dad drove me so I could fly an airplane. I soloed a Cessna 150 in June 1974.
  
• I was going to be an astronaut, or so I thought, in 1973. I tried to get an appointment at one of the Military Academies, in 1974, my senior year of High School, but was unsuccessful. I tried the Air Force ROTC program, conducted at NJIT, while at Stevens Institute. The Air Force wanted me as an engineer, category two (2), not as a pilot. At this point in time (1975-1976), the Vietnam War was all but over and the Air Force had a  lot of pilots. They didn't need any new pilots, or navigators for that matter.
• I was not going to be a military pilot. This also meant that I was never going to be an astronaut. I stopped taking flying lessons, partly because of the expense involved, and partly from the disappointment which led to disinterest. I went to pursue other interests, like car racing.
• Several years later, 1998 in fact, I started flying again. I took myself to the local airport, Andover-Aeroflex. I had looked them up from an advertisement in the local the newspaper. I was introduced to Damian Delglasio, the owner of Andover Flight Academy. His school curriculum starts out teaching basic stick and rudder flying. Seat of  Your Pants, situational awareness. I soloed a J3 Piper Cub, in April 1999. We train in a small, grass strip only, airport called Trinca. It is the place where I did all my early takeoff and landing work. The solo experience brought me back to when I flew the C150. I felt like I was 17 again.
  
    
• I also trained in a L3 Aeronca, a military liaison aircraft from World War 2. Very much like the Piper Cub in flying characteristics, but you solo from the front seat. In the Cub you solo from the rear seat.
  
  
• I am now working to get my pilot's license. I have moved over to a Cessna 1977 172N to get the cross country training. I have a long way to go, but the trip will be fun.
  
  
  <===== This is a 'new' C172, circa 1999.

• For your entertainment, I have a set of questions that a student pilot should know the answers to, prior to solo. Do you know all the answers? I you find any inaccuracies, place contact via my email address.

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This page last updated 05/26/2003.