[wckrause]

I knew an old Thunderbird pilot (I dated his daughter). They were flying F-100s at the time and he was the solo. He was an amazing pilot, but a complete *********. I think he runs the Fairbanks, AK airport now.

I got my pilots license at Wright-Patterson A.F.B. in Dayton Ohio at their aero club. The base had a 12 thousand foot runway which we got to share with every type of aircraft. I remember taxing out to wait my turn behind a group of F-16s. The ground shook as they were running their engines up before takeoff. Sometimes I would find myself in the pattern with a C-5 (I was in a Piper Warrior). That was a bit frightening for a student pilot with only a couple dozen hours of flight time.