I am Positively Nuts about flying

I took my first plane ride (with my father) when I was a week old. The only way to get to Lake Minchumina is to fly. Since I grew up there it gave me a considerable incentive to learn how to fly

 My Dad first started giving me flying lessons in our Super Cub when I was 13. Of course before that I'd flown in the air (ie steered) with Dad closely monitoring the controls, but that isn't quite the same thing as sitting in the front seat and practically being Pilot In Command. Dad was a great teacher, and by the time I was old enough for lessons with an instructor (Dad wasn't an instructor; the lessons he gave me were just to introduce me to it) I pretty much knew how to fly.

I spent a couple of weeks in Nenana taking more formal lessons the next year, and soloed (flew alone) with just 5 hours of instruction in our Cessna 140. Thus I had my student license when I was 14. A student pilot's license allows you to fly by yourself, and I spent hours in the air flying around Minchumina. A few years (and many hours) later I took ground school in High School and then finished my pilot's license by taking the flight test when I was 17. . Since then I have logged over 1,000 hours. Most of these are in the Super Cub. I also have a lot of hours in our Cessna 140, as well as some in the 140 of a friend; I also quite a few hours in my friend Matt's GCBC. I also have a few hours in a Cessna 310. In 1988 I upgraded to a multi engine rating. Currently my certificate reads:

As an interesting side note, both my mom and I got my pilot's license before I got my driver's license.

I have owned a Cessna 310 and a Super Cub. My mom gave my sisters the family Cessna 140, which I fly regularly. My best friend had a Champ, which I used fly occasionally.

The FAA requires pilots to have a logbook. One of these days I'll get all my hours entered for easy totaling and analysis.

Unfortunately I had to sell my planes (in the early to mid 2000's) to help pay for rebuilding the boat (Acrux), which caused a lot of heartache--but I can't do everything and for the last decade I've been a lot more into sailing than flying.