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Owner’s
Borne to Fly
by Grant Boyd
Stephen Osborne
In 2018, Stephen began once again focusing on aviation and has since been pursuing additional ratings with fervor. That same year, he purchased a 1964 Piper PA-24-400 Comanche 400. There were several unique attributes that helped sway him in favor of this aircraft over others.
“We chose the Comanche for its durability with a really heavy zinc chromated airframe (minimal or no corrosion) and the balance of speed and efficiency. The Comanche 400 is a really efficient aircraft, boring 20 gph while cruising at 180-plus knots at 11,000 feet (normally aspirated). Add a 124-gallon usable fuel load, and you can go a really long way without stopping.”
Stephen is as passionate about his Comanche as he is about aviation in general and only has good things to
Corner
Stephen Osborne, a general con- tractor from Topeka, Kansas, is a second-generation aviator and
aircraft owner. He currently owns a 1964 Piper PA-24-400 Comanche 400 and a 1978 Cessna 340A, flying around 150 to 200 hours each year for business and recreation.
His introduction to aviation occurred early on when he routinely served as an enthusiastic tag along on business trips with his late father, David. “I started f lying with Dad at a young age and probably had a few hundred hours of right seat time before my first flight lesson. He would always let me take the controls while f lipping through charts, letting me keep things straight and level while he f lipped through approach plates.”
By the time Stephen was born, his father had a demonstrated love
26 • TWIN & TURBINE / June 2022
1978 Cessna 340A
for aviation and a growing number of logbook entries from a variety of aircraft. “Dad started f lying when he was in his late teens, and his first flight was in a PT-19. His uncle owned and regularly f lew a Cessna 195, which further fueled his love for aviation. He received his private pilot rating in the early 1980s, instrument rating shortly after, and commercial rating in 2010. In the 1980s to 1990s, Dad regularly flew a PA-32 Lance and even leased a PA-32 Saratoga for business use for several years.”
Informal f lying opportunities with his father ultimately led Stephen down the path to formal flight training, and he earned his Private Pilot Certificate in 2003. Competing priorities in life soon trumped aviation, though, and he didn’t again f ly consistently for more than a decade.