I got my start as a WWII enthusiast flying the skies over Germany, rescuing damsels in distress, or downed pilots. I lived near an old airport that is long gone now, and the runway is now Isle 15 at SAMS. We used to play on that airport as kids and explored all the banks beside the runway for artifacts. The airport was closed when we were there, so no planes were coming or going. Was used as a US Mail drop and pickup. There was no fence, no guard, no gate.
Later after my military life which didn’t give me the flying experience I was seeking, glasses stopped that. I went to a local airport that was a class C operation. There are daily flights a main terminal a military C-130 unit and private aviation including a couple of flight schools. I would go out on the ramp at the general aviation side and just sit and watch planes coming and going. They had a couple of Bell 47’s that caught my interest but found out they were state surplus and not ready for sale and were in bad shape. I finally met an older gentleman that allowed me to ride with him one morning as he just flew because. I came from that incident to the flight school that was based there and made friends with them and soon began my flight training. My buddy I was working with had been in the Army as well and he was interested in flying so we both started. Both of us would just sit at the airport and after buying a portable radio with the frequencies we started learning more and more and after about a year we both had out private ratings in SEL.
After this I began flying to my in-laws in an outlying airport. Soon the flight school owner became the FBO for this airport and I began working for him. Did a lot of flying with him and learned from the folks that came here. After a couple of years this guy gave up the FBO and the county hired me as the manager, which I did for 6 years. We had an observation area just beside the ramp. If I saw anyone wondering around, I tried to make conversation and see if I could answer any questions they may have. Several did get into flight training because of this, and I have memories of these contacts.
I moved on due to political reasons from this job to another and with a growing family wasn’t able to continue flying.
I would visit the airport occasionally, but never really stopping for long. Several people there would be generous and allow me to take a ride, but no flying myself. After 911, I sort of stopped going there as they started fencing and gating the entrances to the airport and after a while it became locked down. This is a small county airport that mostly catered to the local industry there for it’s beginning. Now it’s still ran by the county, and I’m too old to make a stab at much of anything aviation related other than talking about it. Medical problems plaque me to where a medical won’t happen. But those days of watching people learn to fly, buy their own plane, go places and just enjoy flying. Everybody enjoyed flying. It was a great time, and like I say, the place is pretty well locked down, although they did build a new terminal building, it does have an observation area that allows spectators to view what’s going on at the airport, but is still locked down, and hardly any aircraft there. There is an aeromedical helicopter based there, which does draw curiosity, but the times I’ve been there, none of the crews are there unless they are departing or arriving and gaining access is still locked. When people see a fence, that generally means no trespassing, so interest is null and void.