Photo Gallery
A Flying Career
Note: This album is best viewed on a large screen or device. Captions will cover the picture on small mobile devices.
A pictorial synopsis of my flying career, covering many of the types of flight instructing I do and have done, as well as my career in corporate, charter, fractional and airline aviation.
Click on any image below to see a larger version, including a descriptive caption.
Learning To Fly
This is a scan of the what’s left of the shirt I was wearing during my first solo flight. In keeping with tradition, my instructor cut off my shirttail and recorded the details of the event on it. Thanks Phil, wherever you are!
Learning to Soar
This is my first takeoff (launch) in a single-seat glider…a Schweitzer 1-26. Summer of 1992, two weeks before earning my glider rating and about a month before earning my initial Flight Instructor’s Certificate.
Early Flight Instructing
Finally, I’m the other side of the scissors. The student is my good friend, Brett King, who was my 4th or 5th “first solo” but was the first student I trained from zero-time through Private Pilot. Brett returned the favor by teaching me to fly dual-line stunt-kites. We are at North Vernon, IN (OVO), one of several airports near my hometown, where I instructed independently from 1994-96.
Primary Flight Instructing
Preparing for engine start with student Julie Waswick (summer 1995). The plane is a 1966 Beech Musketeer, owner by Julie and her husband, Corwin.
Instrument Flight Instructing
Teaching an instrument lesson to Corwin Waswick (note his Foggles) during late summer of 1995. My friend and fellow student Brett is observing from the back seat. We were all flying together a lot that year.
Ground Instructing
Fall of 1995. Doing an instrument ground lesson with Corwin Waswick. He earned his instrument rating that winter. He and his wife, Julie, were such good flight students that I decided to marry Julie’s sister!
Personal Travel
My wife and I, a few months before getting married (summer 1996). We are in Gwinner, ND on the second leg of a cross-country that took us from southern Indiana to southwestern Missouri to southeastern North Dakota and back to Indiana. The plane is a 1974 Cessna Cardinal 180, owned by my friend and former student, John Wilhelmi…thanks for all the free pizza, John!
Charter / Air Ambulance Flying
On final approach to the New Orleans Lakefront airport (NEW), runway 36L. Summer 1996, when I was flying a Cessna 421 out of Lakefront for an air-ambulance company.
Tailwheel Flight Instructing
Inkster, ND airport (ND24)…really! There are two grass runways there. One is running between the wing struts and the other is parallel with the plane. This is typical of the many grass and crop-duster airports I used while teaching the tailwheel flying course at the University of North Dakota (UND). Taken from a Piper PA-18 Super Cub in the spring of 1997.
Aerobatic Flight Instructing
Is that the ground through the skylight window? Yes. Taken while teaching aerobatics in a Super Decathlon, for UND. Spring 1997.
Multi-Engine Flight Instructing
This is intentional. Also taken while instructing at UND. The plane is a Piper PA-34 Seminole and I’m teaching a multi-engine instructor (MEI) course to my good friend Alex Unterberger. Alex and I instructed together at UND and later flew and instructed together at Skyway Airlines. He ended up at United Airlines.
Corporate Business Jet Flying
Taken at the Jeffersonville, IN airport (JVY) in the winter of 1997. My flying partner and I went to college together and he went on to fly for UPS Airlines. While working for this Fortune 500 company, I flew Learjet models 55, 35A, and 24D.
Regional Airline Flying
The Mighty Beechcraft 1900 and I! Taken in the winter of 1998 at the Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA). At the time, I was based at CWA flying as F/O on this machine. What great machines they are! I would eventually get about 2500 hours in them, as First Officer, then Captain and Check Airman.
Moving up to Captain
Leaving Milwaukee, WI, northwest bound. This was one of my last flights as F/O on the 1900, before upgrading to Captain. Summer 1999.
My Regional Airliner
The front office of the 1900 (D Model). The main difference in the cockpit of the D-models, from previous models, is the dual EFIS system.
Matt & Mr. Hoover (Meet Your Heros)
It was my pleasure to meet Mr. Robert A. “Bob” Hoover at Oshkosh 2001. He was a true gentleman and, undoubtedly, one of the finest pilots to have ever lived. I would recommend his autobiographies to anyone who loves aviation.
National Airline Flying
Me, beside the DC-9-30. I had just finished ground school and a stint in the cockpit procedures trainer (CPT) in June 2001. I was about to leave for simulator training. Taken outside the Midwest Express Airlines maintenance hangar at Milwaukee Int’l, Mitchell Field (MKE).
Airline Furlough #1
Taken on a layover in San Antonio, TX, (SAN) in Oct. 2001. This was my last trip before my post-9/11 furlough. The captain let me fly every leg and I didn’t turn the autopilot on once! Check out the cabin…all First-Class seating. Midwest Express was a unique airline that I loved working for.
Cirrus Flight Instructing
Immediately following my post-9/11 furlough, in late 2001, I went to work for Cirrus Design Corp. (now Cirrus Aircraft) as a Factory Instructor & Delivery Pilot. Rick Beach was the 4th new Cirrus owner I trained while working for Cirrus. We spent a week and about 35 flying hours together in Dec. 2001 (he picked up his new SR-22 a day after passing his Private Pilot checkride). Little did I know that teaching in Cirrus aircraft would play such a large role in my life & career for decades to come (and counting).
Flight School Ownership
In the summer of 2002, Cirrus outsourced its flight training arm and I elected to leave and start Progressive Aviation Services. My final trainees while at Cirrus also became my first clients at PAS. I gave The Woods' (husband and wife, both pilots) their 2-day factory training course, then continued helping them transition into their brand new SR-22 (Gen.1) for several days more. They upgraded to a Gen.2 SR-22 in 2004, then upgraded that aircraft with the Avidyne R9 flightdeck in 2008. I've trained them through all those transitions and most their recurrent training, as well. They've remained clients and friends for 20+ years thereafter (and counting).
Aviation Writing
Soon after starting Progressive Aviation Services, I wrote my first aviation article (2003). A piece about dealing with weather and diversions on long cross country flights for the Cirrus Owners & Pilots Assoc newsletter. This is a graphic from that article. Little did I know that would lead to me writing hundreds of aviation articles for publication in all sorts of aviation periodicals. An activity I am still pursuing regularly.
Master Certified Flight Instructor
In 2003, while still enduring my post-9/11 airline furlough and soon after founding Progressive Aviation Services, I earned my first Master CFI accreditation from the National Assoc. of Flight Instructors and FAA. I've maintained it ever since through a biennial renewal process focused on the preceded 24-months qualifying activities.
Boeing 737
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to earn a Type-Rating in the 737 during airline furlough #1. This photo was taken after the checkride on Dec. 22, 2003. To my right, is my sim partner, Melanie Saunders (who was furloughed from United Airlines, at the time). We remained friends and she eventually ended up at Virgin America, then Alaska Airlines with me.
Franctional Business Jet Flying
In April of 2004, while still furloughed from Midwest Express and still actively training Cirrus clients, I took a job with CitationShares (an up and coming Fractional Bizjet operation at the time). I earned my CE-500 Type-Rating, which allows me to fly nearly a dozen versions of the Cessna Citation business jet. This model is the Citation Bravo, seen after landing at Eagle Co. (Vail Valley), CO (EGE) in Aug. 2004. We were the first crew to fly it after delivery from Cessna and pealed the protective plastic off the screens that morning.
Making Family Time
My wife Darcy, my daughter Norah, and I pose with a Citation Bravo at Milwaukee Int’l (MKE) on one of my last trips flying these airplanes for CitationShares (a job I did concurrently with PAS for a little over a year). Although I was a Captain on this aircraft by this point (April 2005), I left the job soon after to accept my recall from furlough at Midwest Express (re-named Midwest Airlines by that point). Good thing I did too, as CitationShares (later CitationAir) became a victim of the Great Recession, began to shrink quickly, and closed its doors completely in 2014.
Recalled: National Airline Flying (Round 2)
By the time I was recalled to my job at Midwest, they had retired all the DC-9’s and replaced them with Boeing 717’s. This is the airplane I was assigned and trained to fly. This photo was taken before one of the many simulator sessions, sometime in June of 2005, at the Alteon Simulator facility in Atlanta, GA.
Flying the 717
Five of the Midwest Airlines Boeing 717’s (and a lone MD-80, upper left) in the “alley” of the Midwest Ramp at Milwaukee International Airport (MKE). Taken in the summer of 2005 during one of my first trips after recall from 3.5 years on furlough.
Doing Good (and Setting Records) with Aviation
Dr. Bruce Kaufman (left) and I in a photo used for promotional and press-release purposes for our upcoming flight to raise money for children and families affected by neurological disease. The flight would also be an attempt to set a national aviation record, using the aircraft behind us. Photo Credit: David Watson , Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.
Flying the 717: At the Controls
At the controls of the Boeing 717: A nice shot taken by the Captain with a wide angle lens somewhere over the western US in May of 2006.
B-717 at LAX
The Captain snapped this photo of me during my pre-flight inspection, as we began our flying day out of Los Angles Int’l. May 31, 2006.
Setting Aviation Records
One of the air-to-air photos taken during our record-setting charity flight. Our plane was christened “Blue Kids One” in reference to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin logo on the tail. This photo was taken over the northwest corner of Wisconsin. We are actually flying over the south shore of Lake Superior, but in the photo the north shore and the arrowhead of northern Minnesota can be seen below the aircraft. June 20, 2006.
We Did It!
My wife Darcy, myself, Dr. Kaufman and Anna Church celebrate the successful completion of “The Romp Around Wisconsin.” We exceeded our fundraising goal of $10,000 and we set a national aviation record for the fastest time to land at every paved/public-use airport in Wisconsin in one day. It was a long day though, taking over 17 hours to land at 104 airports. June 20, 2006. Mission Accomplished.
Swift Flying & Flight Instructing
After over a year of helping the owner to search for and purchase this beautiful 1946 Globe “Super” Swift, I got checked out it in and flew it from southern TN to WI. This photo was taken the day before I left (Oct. 1, 2007) in Crossville, TN. Again, little did I realize the impact this would have on my career, as the Swift became another focus aircraft in my teaching activities and has remained so.
The Great Recession
As the Great Recession developed, Midwest began to suffer financially and eventually began returning their 717's to the lessor. While this was not technically my last flight in the 717, it was close. We all knew furloughs were coming again soon. After flying this 717 to storage in Victorville, CA, I gave her the customary pat of thanks for nearly 2500 hours of safe travel in her and her sister-ships. A month later I was furloughed again and embarking on another chapter in my never-dull flying career.
Airline Furlough #2
One of my flight attendants took a photo of me greeting passengers from the cockpit of the 717 during the Fall of 2008. Soon after I was officially furloughed from Midwest for a second time. I returned to full time self-employment, mainly teaching in Cirrus', Swift's, and other general aviation aircraft and some contract jet flying too. As much as I loved flying for Midwest, I knew this furlough would likely be permanent. Within a year, Midwest Airlines was gone. A recall from my 2nd airline furlough would never come.
Contract Business Jet Flying
Shortly after my second airline furlough, I returned to full-time self-employment and began doing contract flying in this beautiful Lear 60. It is, in fact, the very last “straight-60” to roll off the assembly line (2006 model). Thereafter, the model 60XR took over the production line.
Time to Climb
This photo illustrates the incredible performance that Learjets are famous for. To the far right is a flight timer that begins timing automatically when the wheels come off the ground. Note that it reads 14 minutes, while the altimeter reads 41,000’. That’s an average rate of climb of almost 2,900 feet per minute (factoring in our departure airport’s elevator of around 500’ MSL). While this is impressive, my personal record still stands at 12 minutes to 41,000’ in a Lear-24 back in the late 1990’s.
Piper PA-46 Series Flying & Instructing
I'd admired Piper's beautiful PA-46 line of aircraft since they'd been introduced with the Malibu when I was an early teen! So, when I got the chance to help accept a factory new Mirage in 2011 and complete the SimCom course for it, I jumped at it. I did a deep dive into these aircraft and began teaching in them immediately thereafter. I would eventual teach in the all versions built prior to 2015 (Malibu, Mirage, Matrix, and Meridian).
Major Airline Flying
In late 2011, three years into my 2nd furlough, I decided to give the airlines one more shot. I was hired to fly Airbus A319s and A320s for Virgin America Airlines (a San Francisco based major airline, well known for their "hip" corporate culture and all-black pilot uniforms). This photo was taken at the tail end of a 7+ hour transcontinental flight from Boston to SanFran against winter headwinds.
Advanced Avionics Instructing
I really began teaching advanced avionics as soon I began Cirrus teaching in 2001. But, when Cirrus introduced the first full-glass cockpits to General Aviation in 2003, I delivered the 3rd aircraft off the production line and was floored by its capabilities. Teaching advanced avionics and advanced IFR operations (in-depth) became one of my focus areas immediately and has remained so. Here, I'm teaching long-time client, Tom, in his 2011 Piper PA-46-350P Mirage, with a 3-screen Garmin G1000 system.
200,000-plus Pounds
Virgin America was the launch customer for the Airbus A-321NEO. This was my first time flying it and first time flying an aircraft exceeding 200,000 lbs. Taken in SFO in 2016, by which time VA had swtiched to grey & black pilot uniforms.
Merger!
In 2016, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines merged and the VA brand was eventually retired. The MORE TO LOVE livery was part of the merger marketing strategy. These parallel-runway departures from SFO are a legacy VA A-320 re-branded in Alaska livery and a MORE TO LOVE transition livery on an A-321NEO.
Major Airline Captain (Finally)
In 2017, I finally reached the Captain seat at a Major Airline, while still flying the Airbus for Virgin America / Alaska Airlines (but in the more traditional white Alaska pilot uniform by then). This photo was taken in 2021, my 10th and final year flying the 320-family of airliners.
Final Airbus 320-Series Trip
In Sept. 2021, after exactly 10 years flying the A-320-Series, I flew my last leg on the fleet into Washington National Airport (DCA) on an A-321NEO. This is my flight making the final turn of the River Visual 19 into DCA.
20,000 Hours
About a year after transitioning to the Boeing 737 fleet at Alaska Airlines (because the Airbus fleet was being retired by them), I hit this signification milestone in my aviation journey. In the middle of a Nashville to Seattle flight (somewhere over Nebraska), I hit my 20,000th hour of logged flight time. Sept. 2022.
Aircraft Ownership & Short Wing Piper Flying & Instructing
In 2023, after 34 years as a pilot, I bought my first aircraft. A 1958 Piper Pacer. The entire family of "Short Wing Piper" aircraft (produced 1948-1964) became another focus aircraft for me and a new chapter began.