About

Hi, I am Mike's Uncle Bruce. The flying blog is mine. Mike has snuck in one entry to date. If you look in Mike's photo gallery, you will find him standing in front of my Cessna 210. It's the one with the red and blue trim.

I have always wanted to fly. In my third year of medical school, September 1979, I obtained a coupon for a free flight lesson in a Cessna 152 (a two seat training airplane.) That was the first time I put my hands on an airplane's controls and flew it myself. When my wife, Liz, came home from work later that day, I was still flying high. I stretched out my arms like the wings of an airplane, and swooped around the trailer mimicking the airplane engine. I knew I would have to go for it at the first opportunity.

July 1982 I left my surgery residency and became an Emergency Physician. At last I had all three vital ingredients to learn how to fly -- desire, time and money! I took my first flight lesson July 18.

Below are my flight stats as of August 2006:

4,340 Hours
3,100 Flights
517 Airports
50 States and Washington DC
7 Canadian Provinces: Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba,
Nova Scotia,Saskatchewan, Yukon,
11 Foreign Countries: Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Cayman Islands, England, Germany, Africa: - Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia

Most of my flights were without incident. I believe I have only been in real danger once - that story later. The following is a chronologic account of flights that I consider especially informative, unique, or even funny. Only a few of the stories may be too technical for non-pilots to enjoy.