Too Much Excitement

Upon returning to Covington on Nov 14th, it was major cram time for Tony DeSantis and Dave Buffington as they studied for their type rating check rides. There was also major moaning and groaning about how they thought they would surely fail and suffer embarrassment. Wednesday was Tony's day and I hear that he was absolutely flawless in his oral and great in his flying even though it was raining and the wind was a factor. As an added bonus, they signed the examiner, Bill Mercure and his son Adam up for membership. Bill is retired Delta and Adam is current Delta Captain. Both men have the type rating and extensive hours of "3" time.
Dave's ride is to be on Friday, with final flight training on Thursday. He is having trouble getting rest due to weird dreams about dogs chasing skunks through his house and revelers coming to party and not letting him study. Finally the big day comes and the weather is better, but still windy. We have been plagued by wind since we were at MacDill three weeks ago. Nevertheless, Dave also presented a stellar performance and also received his rating. As another bonus, they met Robin Maiden and his son, Max, 15. Robin was a co-pilot for Delta's DC-3 and is currently about to get his rating. Has about 150 hours. Max is into everything aviation and aspires to fly and be a mechanic. Robin is interested in working air shows and decides to join and sign Max up also. The two of them will fly with the plane to Ft. Worth and non rev back. On their way back to 9A1, they detour slightly to fly over John Heilman's house. John was instructor before Gene. John came out to the airport and joined the crew for dinner. He was excited to catch up on the goings on of the Flagship and its crew.