Private Flying in Small Aircraft

I became interested in writing this book when I was recalling with a close friend the flying that I had done before in a Single Engine Beechcraft Bonanza and a Twin Engine Piper Apache owned by the Associated Aviation flying club operating from Downey Airport located in the Los Angeles Basin, about 25 miles from the LAX airport. I belonged to the flying club from August 1957 to September 1980 or about 13 years until I became too busy working designing Avionics systems at North American Rockwell, Inc. and later handling the Iranian and Israeli military business for the company. While I was flying I had an Instrument Rating and a License to fly Single and twin engine aircraft. I normally would fly with my wife as co-pilot, who also had a pilot's license. I should note that we usually had our five children as passengers. I took frequent flight trips from Downey to other US and Mexico destinations such as San Francisco, Dallas, New York City and Acapulco. My wife and children enjoyed the trips as much as I did. I remember a trip we took from Downey to Alaska in the Piper Apache twin engine plane; we could fly so low over the rivers that we could see the salmon jumping from the water into the air.