Kenyan Adventures , Pilot Spotlight

A Promise With Wings

At the end of the runway in Mombasa, Kenya, I turned and looked at my friend Duncan. He had never been in an airplane before I gave him a thumbs-up and then pushed the throttles forward. The two engines came alive, producing a combined 440 horsepower, and we accelerated down the runway. Duncan had spent his entire life with his feet planted firmly on Kenyan soil. Now, for the first time, he was about to see his homeland from the sky.

Release the Brakes

Mine was born with feathers,” I said, settling the debate between my two pilot buddies who joined me for their maiden pilgrimage to Oshkosh.

That evening, after logging more than 15,000 steps wandering AirVenture, we tossed logs on the fire and sank into our camping chairs. As the wood crackled and popped, we traded stories from our student pilot days—each of us convinced we had the best flight instructor.

My dream to become an aircraft owner came true when I purchased a Cessna Cardinal on December 7, 2013. That sleek red-and-white Cardinal created precious memories as loved ones and I soared across the country. My airplane and I introduced a lot of people to general aviation, and even helped a friend overcome her fear of flying. But, as the pace of society increased, my need for speed increased. After multiple coast-to-coast flights, I pondered selling the Cardinal in order to buy another aircraft that would carry more and travel faster for these long cross-country trips.

Although the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is not well known for making childhood dreams come true, it recently fulfilled one of mine by transferring me to Japan. The only drawback was that I could not bring along my Cessna Cardinal. Storing it was not an option. I refused to abandon my Cardinal in a forgotten hangar.

I was in high school when my friend Jared Guillory gifted me with Microsoft’s Flight Simulator ’99 computer game. Together we explored flying and eventually enrolled in ground school at Belle Chase Naval Air Station in New Orleans. Thyroid cancer prevented Jared from starting the course, but I proceeded and earned my pilot certificate on July 4, 2001. Jared’s cancer was removed after several surgeries, and he was excited to finally begin flight lessons. Sadly a heart attack in 2013 ended his life at only 31, but we had shared many flying adventures.

Ever since I earned my pilot’s license on America’s Independence Day in 2001, I’ve aspired to be an aircraft owner.

Like so many other aviators, though, my dream was put on the backburner due to issues of money, work, and time.

After completing a 53-month assignment throughout Europe and Africa on behalf of the US Navy, I returned to the United States — the last bastion of aviation freedom in the world. Now the itch to be an aircraft owner longed to be scratched.