I learned to fly back east at Fitchburg Massachusetts (KFIT) in November 1977.  I flew the venerable C-152 with a great instructor, Perley Carmichael.  You never forget the person that taught you to fly.  It is truly one of the greatest gifts.  Well, I immediately upgraded to renting C-172s after receiving my ticket and enjoyed that for many years.  Then I joined a club to save money and to meet some other great pilots flying N3958L out of Manchester, NH (KHMT).

My best times flying were with my dad, who could not get his license due to medical reasons.  I taught him to fly and he got a virtual PPSEL license.  We had some great times together.  One time we were flying over Cape Cod bay and saw an old sunken barge.  My dad had fought in the South Pacific and wanted to pretend that it was a WW II enemy destroyer, and I agreed.  He then says, “Tower, 58L would like permission to strafe the enemy destroyer.”  Mistakenly he had hit the PTT and Hyannis Tower came back with “Permission Granted, report sunken destroyer.”

After my dad passed, he left me a modest amount of money and I made the first emotionally based decision in my life (as opposed to rational decision).  I decided to use all of it to purchase my first airplane, N5722Q, a 1965 Mooney M20C.  I traveled all over the USA looking at aircraft from Pennsylvania to Colorado and ultimately found my dream plane at Stockton (KSCK), which was only 1 hour drive from my home in the San Francisco bay area.  Her first home was at Reid-Hillview in San Jose.  22Q has been the best airplane I could have ever hoped for.  It took me a good 20-25 hours to really feel like I had “the feel of this airplane”.  From the Lycoming O360-A1D, to the Johnson Bar, and all of the mods that previous owners and I have put into 22Q, it is truly a fantastic airplane.

Linda, my wife, and I have had more fun adventures in this aircraft and met more wonderful people than one could ever imagine.  Linda used to fly with the Sheriff’s department (transporting bad guys to jail) and is now the best co-pilot one could hope for.  She plans most of our day or weekend trips, helps navigate, and has taken a Pinch Hitter course.  We travel to places hundreds of miles away just to have lunch with friends.

We end up at places we never would have seen or visited without owning N5722Q.

We recently moved to Paso Robles and have made another dozen aviation friends here.  If you are ever in Paso Robles, don’t hesitate to give us a call.  We can fly over the vineyards and the beautiful Central California coast together.

Phil & Linda Corman
philcorman@yahoo.com