Anyone wanting to define me would say; "He's all about flying." Hooked to the passion early, as a four year old when a DC-3 airliner flew over my remote northern town led to a 70 year love affair with defying gravity. Royal Canadian Air Force Wings were the origin of my profession and subsequent bush flying with fixed and rotary wing aircraft followed. Interest in exotic cars and boats paled compared to the thrills and challenges of free flight. Military training opened the doors to enthralling cross country adventures because I was selected as an instructor for multi engine instrument training. This taught me that I didn't want to be an airline pilot after all. Sitting behind an autopilot for hours on end was more a baby sitting task than actively flying. Subsequent civilian flying added far greater challenges with bush flying operations. Further education evolved when the position of Sales Manager and Chief Pilot of a Cessna dealership allowed me to jump from plane to plane and thereby assess different types of handling characteristics. My exuberance was infectious to purchasers and 90 demonstration flights resulted in 90 sales. An opportunity to try to fly a helicopter showed me a new goal in aviation. After years of "fling wing" operations, the task of teaching world-wide fire suppression bucketing led to visiting dozens of countries where I learned we are all the same - except a lot of people talk funny...

Between the bucketing and sales tasks, I learned that a lot of pilots were not necessarily flying well or safely. So, I started writing for the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association and eventually ended up with three columns in the monthly magazine. More than 65 magazines eventually wanted articles and this turned out to be a door opener to Aviation Nirvana. Wanna fly an F-5, F-18, Chinook, Huey Cobra, Gyroplanes, Ultralights, Experimentals? Start aviating. Virtually any flying steed was available to fly when a pilot report article was forthcoming. Contributions to more than sixty magazines resulted in hundreds of aircraft types logged. The thrill here was the challenge of attempting to fly well to assess an aircraft's performance. Given my diverse background, aircraft manufacturers or owners were delighted to have their planes "published."

Each aviation aspect broadened my experience and with so many types in my log books it was simply a matter of time till becoming an "aviation expert" became a new paying profession.

In the midst of the accident reconstruction work a chance flight in a glider created a new passion to conquer. So, for the last two decades I have been soaring in the Rocky Mountains seducing Mother Nature into revealing her secret areas of lift. What could possibly be next? Well, I'm praying for gossamer wings to take me to the next and last level. For anyone with an aircraft, the sky's the limit. May you have the opportunity to have flights of fantasy to explore the blue sky version of Paradise.