I am a fair-weather VFR pilot. I have flown mostly rented Cessna 172s out of Boeing Field in Seattle. I have been flying as a private pilot since 1997.
About six months ago, I bought a Flight Design CTLS. It is a two-seater, light sport aircraft with a Rotax engine. It cruises at about 120 knots while consuming only 5 gallons an hour. It has about a thousand mile range as long as you are willing to glide into your destination airport. It is built in The Ukraine, and the final assembly was performed in Las Vegas. A safety feature that I like is a ballistic parachute that drops the entire airplane – like the Cirrus. I keep my airplane in a hangar in Boeing Field.
I live in Seattle and my wife and I recently bought a second home in Friday Harbor. It is a second home for now, but moving up to the island permanently is a topic of discussion between me and my wife. It is located in town at 480 Nelson St. We are both retired so we plan to spend lots of time there. I have had a checkered career path with stints in commercial real estate and construction, computer security, and investment management. I have been retired for about twelve years.
My flying has been mostly confined to the West Coast. I can claim some international flying experience because I have flown twice in Australia. Once around the Australian outback and on another occasion I flew around Western Australia. I enjoy aerial photography – though strictly as an amateur.
I was born and raised in San Jose California, and I moved to Seattle in 1981.