A little over a year ago a good friend asked if I would consider writing a column about a skytyping/airshow operation. My friend was a former chief pilot at our New York domicile, and through the years the job had given him the opportunity to become acquainted with pilots that had unique backgrounds; one of them was a Super 80 captain who owned a skytyping business. Very cool. But, I’m the airline guy for this magazine. How is that topic going to work into one of my stories?
From the moment that I shook hands with Larry Arken, I realized that I was being afforded a glimpse into one of the most professional airline fleets in the country. The fact that the fleet consisted of six vintage airplanes that had trained World War II fighter pilots who eventually became airline pilots, defining the profession in a budding industry, was an irony in and of itself.
