Entered USAF pilot training through the Ohio Air National Guard at the age of 21, in the fall of 1963. Graduated the following fall and checked out in the F-84F at the Toledo ANG 180TFS.

In January of 1966 started flying for American Airlines based in Buffalo, NY and transferred to Niagara Falls ANG 136TFS flying F-100C's. January of 1968, the unit was recalled to active duty for the Pueblo Crisis and sent to Tuy Hoa, Vietnam where I flew 250 combat missions.

My entire airline flying career was spent with American Airlines, flying the DC-6 / 7, Locheed Electra, DC-9-80, DC-10, B-727, B-757, B-767 and the B-777 for a total of thirty-seven years. Also type rated in the Lear Jet and DC-3.

Instructed at the American Airlines Flight Academy as a Check Airman for a number of years and was an FAA designee for the 757/767/777 aircraft. As manager of International Flight Department for a few years in the late nineties I was responsible for the flying procedures in South America, the North Atlantic and the Pacific all the while staying proficient flying line trips on a weekly basis.

Retired in the spring of 2002, built a canal boat in London and lived on it in France until the fall of 2011.

After returning to the US, I opened a cigar shop and lounge in Waterville, Ohio with a blues and rock theme featuring local artists on a weekly basis.2