Though many of those country pathways are filled with houses now, he smiles with gratitude. It was a great childhood. It was a week of romance, a week of wind in your hair and farmers' fields sliding by below. He settles into final near Boston with the setting sun at his back, and reflects on the many friends that he has made over the years. Customers and local pilots alike have taught him how to recognize a true aviation lover.
Airline pilots make their living flying the big tin.
Many of them don't want to be within 50 miles of an airport when they're not working. It's the pilots who get off work and jump into an open cockpit on the weekends who are the true aviators, in my opinion. They're the people who love to fly for the sheer joy of it. Just down the flight-line is another pilot who cherishes the freedom of flying topless. He's a retired TWA flight captain, veteran World War II B-17 pilot and sport aviator who has owned, restored and still flies some of the greatest planes in aviation history.