Nowadays.....

I have to say, these days I think that the time is going fast. My Son is grown, I am getting older, but my love of flight only grows stronger. I live in Europe now, and I have begun to fly aerobatics again. Things here are so different, but if you look between the cracks it is all the same.I am so grateful for the priveledges that I once took for granted. I am dually certificated in Europe as well as the States, but the funny thing is that I am limited here to VFR flight, whereas in the States my strength as an instructor and my flight skills are IFR. I do have to say that flying loops, rolls, and spins in a blue sky is much more fun than flying the 'van in icing conditions with some little foreign guy screaming at me to fly broken airplanes in bad weather to make him money. If not for my wonderful P.O.I. (from the FEDS ) I would have been in deep sh!t. As it is, now flying is fun again, the pure joy that I knew when I first began.
I have now begun to reflect on the fine pilots I have met and been associated with:
Hal Goddard, my beloved instructor, (RIP ) Curtis Pitts ( RIP ) ( yes, the guy who MADE Pitts aircraft )Chuck Yeager, ( who needs NO introduction ) Bob Hoover (the same!)Patty Wagstaff, Robert Armstrong, Sean B. Tucker, Matt MillerKurt Langenhorst, .. the list is long and impressive.. These people have helped me to become the pilot I am today.
I flew aerobatics yesterday for the first time in 4 years. The last time was with Kurt in a Great Lakes in 2004, where we laughed during spins.
I was in a flight exam yesterday with the most famous airshow pilot in the Netherlands.I wanted him to say "Damn, this Yankee is GOOD", afterwards, he told me I was EXCELLENT! I am still walking in the clouds... I was even jumping on my bed today, I was so happy!
God was with me, as he always is...