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Notes:
I'm a mid-fifties guy, a general internist in a small town in western Wisconsin, working for a clinic that's a satellite of the Mayo Health System. I'm not famous as a doctor or a pilot, and life is comfortable this way.
My aviation involvement began when my dad bought a Cessna 150 in 1962 and he gave me a couple of rides and let me take a couple of lessons. Life after that took big turns and so I was able only to fly again in 1979, when I got my private SEL license. Life took some more turns, and I tried to get my glider add-on rating at Hemet in 1985, but the instructor had some teenage reliability issues, and I had insufficient time. I finally made time to get that done in 1992 at Soar Hawaii, Dillingham Field, Hawaii. Things sputtered along, and in 1994 I got my SEL instrument and commercial ratings and I really started flying more assiduously.
What got me going was that a 65 year old man, who looked 75+, came in for a flight physical and said, 'All my life I've wanted to fly. Now that I'm retired I finally have the time, so I bought an airplane, I started taking lessons, and now I'm here for my medical certificate.' At the time I had about 150 hours in my log off and on across 32 years, and I thought, 'This could be me in 20 years.'
In 19995 I bought a Blanik L-13 and tried to start a club. It sort of worked, and sort of didn't; we got five pilots to their glider commercial ratings, but folks moved away and we lacked critical mass and reliable tow. I was lucky enough to be able to buy the lovely Ventus Cm in the opening frame, so I sold the Blanik and dissolved what was left of the club.
The soaring community has provided a wonderful education and much pleasure; the writing I do is simply an attempt to repay the community for this.