Although I developed an interest in aviation as early as Kindergarten, and was stationed in the Navy at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in the '60s, my real introduction to flying was by way of one Ron Tennant, who owned a Navion. He took me on a couple of business trips in 1989, and "set the hook" so to speak.

I got my pilots license in 1990, and purchased N91472, NAV-4-279, The Gray Goose, in 1991.

It was a struggle initially, since what was not supposed to be a project really turned into one. Major items were engine overhaul and a "wing party" to get to the gas tanks. We also made some wiring changes (especially the landing light power circuits) and modernized some instruments. Before I got to really start flying in February 1992, I had put more into "fix-em-ups" than I had spent buying the plane.

I spent over 750 hours flying it (not enough) and have really enjoyed formation flying. Although I had fIown formation with several Navioneers since 1992, when the FAA put the requirement in for formal training, I got my FAST card in May 1999.

Since then, I've flown many hours with Brad Hensley, Dave Swett, and other members of the 805th Navion Squadron.

While I was working in Santa Barbara, the Goose was tied down at Santa Ynez. When I retired, it was hangared at Grass Valley (O17). I found that it was harder to fly up here, due to the weather. Especially when the snow piles up against the hangar door. One of the more satisfying things I've done is flying EAA Young Eagles. I recently received a "Flight Leader" patch to go with my "Young Eagles EAA" patch.

The Goose is not a show-class aircraft, but I consider it a very safe, easy to fly plane, which is instrument flight capable. Steam gauges, yes, but at least relatively modern, and they all work. The avionics are Narco, and modernized to the latest non-glass stuff they have.

I added a handheld Garmin GPS, which kinda spoils me. It was always fun to fly to an airport and have people there come over and look the plane over, and complement me on it. It usually blows their minds when they find out it has a builder's date of 1946.

Sadly, I parted with the Goose in October 2007. Richard Manuel, of Vacaville, is the new owner.

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