I was born in the farm house that I now live in. When I was eight years old my neighbor Jerry took me for a ride in his 1946 J-3 cub. From that day on all I wanted to do was fly. My family farmed for a living in those days, and money was tight. Flying lessons just were not possible. As life make it’s twists and turns, I ended up becoming an ASE certified diesel and heavy Equipment Technician and now manage and maintain a large corporate farm fleet. In 1996, right out of college, I married my wife Amy. Of course I still could not afford to fly. Finally in 2000 I scraped together enough money to buy on old 80’s Phantom ultralight.

The only thing I had less of than money was patience. Not being able to find an ultralight instructor, and with no formal training, I climbed in and took off. Fortunately the Phantom was a very gentle flying bird! The first flight was without incident. From then on I was in the air every chance I got.

In 2001, I traded the Phantom for a Fisher Avenger. I flew the Avenger for three years and sold it locally to a friend to buy a Challenger in September of 2004. I found my Challenger 2 CWS in North Carolina, and drove down, inspected it, put it in a Budget truck and brought it home. In November I earned my Ultralight Instructor Endorsement with EAA. Since then I have logged many hours of instruction in the Challenger, and gotten to see many of my students solo, and join me in the sky. It is one of the greatest joys in my life to share the wonders of flight with others.

In September of 2005 I found out that Dennis Carley of U-fly-it Ultralights was moving his business to Florida. I quickly realized that this would leave central and southern Ohio without a Challenger dealer. I contacted Challenger, became a dealer, and formed Heavenbound Aviation. 

I now have a 2 (and a half! she will quickly point out) year old daughter who loves to watch me takeoff and land from her perch in the kitchen window. She is in ground school now, but soon will be ready for dual instruction! (don’t tell mom!)

And what about Jerry? He still lives next door, and still flies the old cub. Matter of fact if you are taking flight instruction from me on a nice calm evening, it is quite likely that you will see the old cub ease up on our wing tip to say hello. Jerry is also going to be helping with the assembly of new Challengers.