Quick links to most popular content:
- Accelerated 10-day instrument rating.
- Ferry flights (domestic / international).
- Airplane repossession.
Thanks for visiting!
Caught a few shots of “The Swamp”, the football stadium at University of Florida, as we were flying into Gainesville (GNV) this morning.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field
The Swamp
Here’s a video of our touch and go Cessna 182 landing at Gainesville (GNV) this morning. The original is on Karl’s Youtube channel.
We were flying Karl’s Cessna C182 for a little joyride and he shot the video on his iPhone coming back for landing at Gainesville.
Went flying with my friend Karl this morning. Made a few landings at Keystone (42J), Williston (X60), and a few on the grass strip at “Flying Ten” (0J8) before returning to Gainesville (GNV). Karl has a great Cessna C182 and wanted to get a little practice flying from the right seat, since he’s going to take his flight instructor rating sometime in the future.
Flying in a C182
My friend Karl in his C182
Here’s some advice if you’re interested in a career as an airline pilot…
I remember when I was 4 or 5, both my brother and I wanted to be farmers – like all little boys, we wanted to drive those big tractors. Then for reasons I don’t recall I changed my mind and wanted to be a train engineer. I was convinced I found my calling. But then the train engineers union held a protracted strike when I was maybe 6 or 7, so I started to think, what else could I do that involves operating a big machine and lots of switches? Hey… I could be a pilot !!!
For the rest of my childhood and adolescence, I was convinced, nothing could change my mind: I would be an airline pilot. Only, I’m not. So here is some essential advice on how to start a career as an airline pilot:
Do the exact opposite of everything I’ve done in the past 20 years or so 
Here’s some highlights:
- Timing. I learned to fly in 1991, right after the demise of Eastern Air Lines and Pan Am.
- Skip college, my superior flying skill was all I needed.
- If there are no airline jobs, just start your own air cargo business.
I could go on…
Funny thing is, I’m happy doing what I do now, and I’ve had a lot of great experiences along the way. As the story of my life has gone, I may end up flying for an airline when I least expect it, and that would be okay too – but I don’t miss it now.
At the end of the day, it was silly of me to think about a career as an airline pilot without having a college degree or military pilot experience, although I did go back to college many years later and for entirely different reasons. But if you want to be an airline pilot, those 2 things completely take precedence over anything else: military flight experience and a college degree. And let things come to you, if you’re like me and picked the worst time in history to get into flying, just stick with it, fly as an instructor or contract pilot and eventually the industry will pick up. Waiting a few years seemed like eternity when I was younger, now my concept of time has changed entirely.
Finally, many airline pilots I’ve met over the years didn’t seem to enjoy their jobs all that well, so don’t forget to enjoy what you’re doing. Even though I thought I was just biding my time to an airline career, in my case the journey turned out to be better than the intended destination 
Whether you’re a bank or private individual, recovering an airplane from a default can be a challenge. I can assist with the entire process of airplane repossession and sale, in a safe and efficient manner, to protect the secured parties in the event of a default on an airplane loan.
Airplane repossession:
- Because time is of the essence I will dedicate myself to your mission from start to finish, on short notice as required.
- As a full-time contract pilot I do not have to work around a “day job”, so I won’t leave your airplane until the job is finished.
- A distressed airplane may require maintenance support before it can be safely and legally flown and sold. As a licensed A&P and IA mechanic, I can ensure a safe and legal flight to prevent any additional loss for the secured parties.
In today’s challenging economy, the ability to recover a defaulted airplane quickly, safely and legally can be of crucial importance for banks, lenders and insurance companies. If you need an aircraft repo pilot to assist with airplane repossession, please contact me to discuss your mission.
I’ve been fortunate to get a lot of international experience. I’ve flown in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America in addition to the US and Canada. I have also traveled extensively and I am very comfortable in different cultures.
In Trujillo, Peru
International ferry flights, airplane deliveries or repossession often require maintenance support, import/export certificates, etc. Having both a maintenance background as well as strong international experience can be critical advantages. In addition, since I do freelance work full-time, you do not need to worry about leaving the mission half-finished to return to a “day job”.
I’m not fluent in Spanish, but I speak enough to get by in Latin America. I am fluent in Dutch as well as English.
If you are looking for a contract pilot for international ferry flights in Latin America or Europe, please contact me to discuss your mission.
Just worked on a few updates on the B757 weight and balance program I created for CCIA.
Boeing 757 weight and balance
The program calculates all cargo and loading limitations for the B757-200PF configuration, and prints of a computer load manifest. Currently I’m making a few updates and am helping out with the integration at BAX.
Like the B727 W&B program I had made before, the B757 W&B program is flexible and allows last-minute load changes. We got great feedback on it from the FAA as well.
Features:
- Boeing B757 weight and balance application developed for an FAA certified FAR-121 carrier.
- Checks all main deck and belly compartment weight limits, including floor loading, and cumulative compartment limits.
- Verifies center of gravity (CG) limits for takeoff and landing.
- Verifies compliance with certificate and operational weight limits.
- Integrates with runway analysis manual.
All weight and balance and performance data is calculated on a laptop in the cockpit, and the load manifest is printed in the cockpit as soon as cargo loading is completed.
In 2002 I got introduced to the folks at CCIA, who were at the time having issues with their Boeing 727 weight and balance program. They were using a proprietary VB program that had become difficult to maintain and required a lot of sequential inputs from the crew. Last minute load changes – which are common in the air cargo world – required that the crew start over with much of the inputs.
I showed them a program I had previously used for the Convair 340 and proposed we develop an Excel-based version of their B727 weight and balance program and load manifest.
B727 W&B program
I developed the program for them and they’ve been using it on their entire fleet of B727s ever since. The crews carry a laptop with a small IR printer in the planes and run their numbers right from the cockpit. The program includes B727 performance data, B727 takeoff card with V-speeds and the load manifest.
Boeing B727 takeoff card with V-speeds
The feedback from the crews was excellent, since they no longer had to do all the inputs sequentially and can easily enter last-minute load changes.
Nowadays I would suggest to run the program on a web server and eliminate paper manifests for the trip envelopes, but back then wireless internet wasn’t a good option. Since then I have also developed B757 weight and balance software for CCIA using the same format.
