My aviation journey began as a child. My father worked as an aerospace engineer at Arnold Airforce base in Tullahoma, TN. He instilled the burning interest in aviation at an early age. Model rockets, control line models, RC Airplanes, three trips to Cape Canaveral to see Apollo Rockets blast off to the moon. He lit the fire!
We constructed a grass strip on our farm and built or refurbished three homebuilt aircraft. I joined the Air Explorers at age 15 and starting my flight instruction in a Cessna 140 for $12.50 per hour. This was sold and replaced by a Cessna 150 for $18 per hour which I soloed out of KTHA.
Fast forward to the broke college years getting a BS (UT Martin) and MS (Univ of TN). Flying was sporadic at best until I finally got my first real job and finished my license. Like most people’s story: marriage, three kids and life got in the way until mid-fifties I finally purchased a Cessna 150. After two years and lots of flying, it was time for something bigger and faster. I purchased “Hank” out of New York in 2020. He’s a 1966 H model Cessna 172 with 3500 hours TT and 750 since OH. Instrument rating came along in 2023 and since purchasing, we are slowly picking off new states we have landed at. Oshkosh AirVenture has become an annual pilgrimage.
Retirement from the farm equipment business in Feb of 2025 after 35 years has opened up much more time to devote to Aviation. I am president of the EAA Chapter 1355 in Greeneville for the last three years and am EAA Young Eagles coordinator and pilot. Flying the Young Eagles has been very rewarding and got me interested in other volunteer flying like SouthWings. I have also started to work with local rescue squads to help them when they need eyes in the sky.
Looking forward to meeting the clients and fellow pilots of SouthWings.
