Page 8 - JULY 20 TNT

Pilot Tube
310 Pilot: Modern-Day “Sky King”
by Dale Smith
Not since the legendary Sky King’s Songbird II brought the grace and beauty of Cessna’s 310 onto TV sets across the county has the venerable twin enjoyed such a steadfast
following as the fans of Kevin and Jaime Thornton’s YouTube adventures in 771BC.
If you’re like a lot of us Baby Boomers, you couldn’t wait to park yourself in front of the old RCA on Saturday morn- ing and hear the announcer say, “From out of the clear blue of the western sky comes Sky King...”
Yep, the Sky King TV series is one of the big reasons I got into flying. Every week, Sky, Penny, Clipper – I bet you forgot Clipper – and the Songbird came “out of the clear blue western sky” to take us on all kinds of thrilling adventures. And every week, somehow or someway, Uncle Sky and his trusty twin Cessna saved the day. Who wouldn’t grow up wanting to be a pilot?
Having about 200 hours in 310s, I was thrilled when I came across Kevin and Jaime Thornton’s YouTube channel, 310 Pilot. Pretty much every Friday afternoon, they take me, and over 125,000 other subscribers, along on some of their family adventures.
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310 Pilot: Episode One
It’s easy to see where Thornton’s love of aviation comes from. His grandfather was a pilot, his father flew helicopters in the Army, one uncle f lew F-15’s in the Air Force, and another was the Chief Pilot for the Coca Cola Company. Not a bad lineage.
“Back then my dad owned a 172 based at Falcon Field (FFC) just outside of Atlanta,” he said. “After my first lesson I was hooked. I transferred schools from the University of Georgia to West Georgia so I could fly the Skyhawk as often as my savings allowed.”
Kevin Thornton and his wife, Jaime.