?»?Robert Edmund Graf began pilot training in May, 1967 and received his private pilot certificate in September, 1967 at the Northampton, MA airport. He later obtained an instrument rating and commercial certificate. He and his wife owned a Piper Cherokee 180 for three years and a Piper Arrow for ten years. In a flying career spanning 42 years in single engine aircraft, he flew in all 50 states as well as eastern and western Canada and the Bahamas. In 1988 he and his wife, Joyce, flew from Frederick, MD to northwestern Alaska (Kotzebue) in their 1980 Piper Arrow. He logged a total of 2141 hours with over 137 hours of actual instrument time, 318 hours of night flying, and 1520 hours of cross-country flights. His longest flight was non-stop from Wichita, KS (ICT) to Frederick (FDK) ?€“ a distance of over 1100 nautical miles. He piloted a Cessna 172 between four of the Hawaiian Islands. He flew coast to coast across the United States several times, with multiple landings at the Grand Canyon Airport. He flew in a variety of Piper and Cessna four and six seat aircraft. He also checked out in a Beech T-34 and did aerobatic training in a Super Decathlon. One of his proudest moments was taking his two grandchildren, Charles and James Graf, for their first propeller driven airplane rides in 2008. In August, 2009 he made a tandem parachute jump from 15,000 feet in Boulder City, NV.