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We Have Arrived
Going Back in Time at Ocean Reef
by Kevin Ware
Iwas 17 years old, sitting in the ho- tel’s blue 1963 Corvair van next to a 3,000-foot private runway on the north end of Key Largo, waiting
for a guest to arrive from Chicago. The red and white Piper Comanche with the engine making a distinctive roar circled the airport once and then landed, the tires making a chirping sound as they touched the hot pave- ment. It rolled up to the ramp, and as a teenage airplane nut, I could hardly contain myself. This was no ordinary Piper Comanche, it was the new one that had a 400-horsepower, 8-cylinder Lycoming engine under the cowl. It was an airborne hot rod easily capa- ble of 220 miles per hour; the fastest
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single-engine piston airplane made in theUSatthetime.AsIgotoutofthe van, I was almost drooling.
The pilot waved at me nonchalantly as the propeller stopped moving, and a minute or two later he stepped out onto the wing carrying a small suitcase. My job as the hotel bellboy was to take him a mile or so to the hotel and help get him checked in. He was a friendly guy and must have recognized my enthusiasm. During the brief van ride, he mentioned he had just flown down from Chicago, where it was snowing and he was very glad to be in the nice 80-degree weather in the Florida Keys. I listened to his story about the flight in absolute awe and promised myself,
that someday, I was going to do what he, in such a seemingly casual fashion, had just done.
Years went by. I moved away from the Florida Keys to the Seattle area, obtained a commercial pilot’s license, became a f light instructor, and f lew all sorts of general aviation aircraft for a living while working through col- lege. I also got married, and probably more often than I should have told my wife who was born in Norway all kinds of embellished stories about the luxurious hotels I had worked at in the sunny Florida Keys. After finishing college, medical school and residency, we settled down to raise a family. Once my medical career was under way, I