It is that festive time of year. Frosty air combined with wet leaves blowing up against my hangar door signaled that this is the season for an owner-assisted annual for my humble Cessna 140.
When Carl Icahn took over TWA the best pilot position was early retirement.
The little FBO in Maine that I learned to fly at started me in a new C150 and when I came home on Christmas vacation from college it had turned into a lovely old C140. I majored in line boy and mechanics helper and student pilot at a Cessna Dealership while in college, and those were my most fun flying years and I repacked a lot of bearings and I could set plug clearance correctly without a gauge… After 20 years in the AF (I had given up on the airlines once over age 28) there was a pilot shortage and at age 41 I was immediately hired, went to training 10 times in 14 years, never made captain, never held a line and retired early and the only airplane I miss flying is the F-111, though I think the DC-10 was the best hand flying heavy. Kevin, your advice to the young pup is spot on.