My earliest memories are of wanting to be a pilot. I was introduced to flying around the age of 8 when I convinced my father to take me to the grass strip in our West Tennessee town for a flight in a PiperTri-Pacer. I then looked for every excuse to fly with the construction company my father worked for. I wasn’t able to qualify for flight training in the military because of my vision (No Lasik in those days). During the summer after my junior year in college I started flight instruction in a Cessna 150that rented for $13 per hour. My instructor charged $7 per hour.I earned my private pilot license in December of 1976 and started medical school on January 1977. Flying had to be put on hold for a while but after medical school I was able to join a flying club in Memphis and fly with the Civil Air Patrol. After moving to Nashville I continued to train and obtained my instrument and commercial ratings.
In 2004 I was recruited to a Children’s Hospital in Knoxville and met a Retired Naval Aviator who had started a flight school. I took a basic aerobatic course with him and after that course he convinced me to continue training and get my instructor ratings. I retired from medicine in January 2016 to spend more time working in aviation.