After a stint in the Navy (including two Viet Nam tours), I was back home going to college in Spokane when a neighbor asked if I'd care to go up for a ride with him in his club plane, a little American Yankee. That was in 1973, and other than a couple lapses due to normal life's challenges, the bug hasn't let up.

A couple years after that ride, I began flight instruction with the "Economy Flying Club" out of the Mead, Washington Airport north of Spokane. We had one airplane, a very basic (no electrical or radio) Aeronca Chief that we flew for $8 (yes, eight) per hour.

I had just soloed when I took a job working on NOAA's research ships in Seattle, and resumed my training at Boeing Field. What a culture shock that was! I finished my Private at Martha Lake, then the Instrument rating at Paine Field. I ended up working as Radio-Electronics Officer on commercial ships, mostly on a 4-month rotation in the Far East in LNG tankers.

Over the years, while home 4 months at a time, I would try to keep active with flying and add ratings as I could between home and family obligations. Eventually I managed to get the Commercial, then CFI and CFII. While bouncing around at sea, I'd often thought I'd enjoy doing some flight instructing after retirement. Well, last year I took an early retirement so I'm doing just that. I'm thankful for having had a lot of challenging and gratifying experiences, and all of you I come in contact with add to that tremendously.

I've lived in Bellingham (Lake Samish area) since 1983 with my wife Nancy and 2 sons, Eric (20) and Alan (15). My biggest lesson? Teaching a kid to drive is far more stressful than flight instructing!