Back in the Saddle

When one falls off a horse, the saying goes that you should get right back on. So I rented a plane and hired my CFI, Russ to go up with me, as I wasn’t sure how I would react, post-aborted landing and the death of Isabo. The flight went well. I was back home in the air where I belonged.

For about a month I was very busy filling out paperwork and talking to NTSB , FAA and insurance company. I was mourning the loss of a loved one, and packing up her flight logs to send to the insurance company was saying goodbye all over again. My sleep was riddled with dreams replaying the last flight of me and Isabo.

Eventually it was time to shop for a new plane. I knew what I wanted, but the search still took a lot of time and in this I had a very special friend – Steve Thompson. Steve and I had been friends for several years, and it came as no surprise when he offered to fly me to wherever I might need to go to look at prospective planes. Note. The general rule of thumb is to fly no further than a single tank of fuel to buy a new plane – so I kept my search to WA, OR, CA, ID, and northern UT.

After all the trips and phone calls and email exchanges, I found my new plane – just a 10 minute flight away – at the Olympia (OLM) airport. The minute I saw the plane, I knew he was the one. Negotiations over price and a pre-purchase inspection later, on September 17th 2008 at 10:00 in the morning I agreed to purchase a Cessna 182, to take delivery on Friday the 19th.

Allow me to introduce you, my readers, to Path my beautiful boy.


We've been flying together for over a year now, and I have learned his idiosyncrasies, how he sounds, what he likes. We are becoming one with each other and the air. We've been on one big adventure and I have many more planned.