Log Books

I don't know how many log books I have.  I started out with a little, private pilot log book, then had to graduate up to a much bigger, professional type log book when I passed my Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) check ride.  I would be doing lots more flying and would have to record much more information about my students.

I just dug my first two log books out of the dusty flight bag they have been stored in for years.  It is interesting to see how sporadically I flew for 3 years, then suddenly got serious.

My first flight was Oct. 11, 1968.  First solo was December 19, 1968.  I started flying at Allegheny County Airport in July, 1969, Beaver County Airport in November.  It was not necessary to have a private license to begin flying on the GI Bill at that time, I just needed the minimum time, so I bypassed that for a while and began on the commercial pilot training with Gail Kimmel (a dude) and Ivan Wable.

Ivan pointed out that I could take friends and relatives with me on some of the cross country flights, if I had a private license, so we worked on the stuff I would need to do for that check ride and I passed that on July 3, 1971 with a designated examiner named Harold Ford at Zelionople Airport.

In May of 1972, I began flying at Butler Graham Airport.  I flew with Dave until mid October, then really got busy with Jim.  I had about 125 hours at that time.  I passed my commercial check ride, with Jack Redman, the manager of Graham Aviation, who was also a designated examiner, on February 2 1973, with 198.6 hours.  I was flying nearly every day, some times twice a day.

Jim and I began on the CFI a week later.  I was sitting in the right seat for all of this.  I passed that check ride on June 7, 1973, with 239.7 hours.  I gave someone a plane ride that same day, so that must have been the day I began working for Graham Aviation.  The first dual instruction given was June 9, to a guy named Dave Miller.  I checked a guy out on the Cherokee 140 on the 10th and took my first instrument rating lesson with BS on the 11th.

Since I hadn't flown a Cessna 150 for a couple years, I was checked out on one, so that I could give instruction to a guy named Bill Scott, who had just bought one and is a friend of mine to this day.

I hope I haven't bored you to death with all this detail.  It is fun to go back in time and with hind sight, be reminded of how much fun this time of my life was, except for the divorce.  I used the negative energy from that to fuel my assault on the task of acquiring all my necessary licenses, ratings and experience.  Hours.