Page 28 - October21T_REV

Factory Direct
Dr. Dick Karl and I discuss our passion for flying.
Yo, Dinger!
Nine minutes after brake release, I enter the empty Luke pattern at 480 kts and at mid-field, I’m into the break. It’s a 7G left turn to downwind where I go to idle, put out the boards with my left thumb, slow to 400, 300 then 200 gear- down, and come off the perch into one continuous turn, base to final. The F-16 is pretty easy to land. Flaps and slats are automatic, and I’ve taught 14-year-old Civil Air Patrol Cadets how to land after just one try in the sim. My crew chief marshals me to a parking spot in a row of six other F-16s and I shut down the motor. I can’t help but give my F-16 a little anthropomorphic stroke on the nose as I pass by.
After dropping off my equipment, I’m on my way to the O’Club. Half the squadron is over in one corner and they know I volunteered for the Gila Bend sortie. A shout comes from across the crowded bar: “Yo, Dinger. How was that VAN RIDE?!” You’ve never been ribbed properly until you’ve been ribbed by a bar full of fighter pilots. Little did they know, for this hippie turned fighter pilot, it was so worth it.
Ugly Duckling
A professional flying career often follows a circuitous and uncertain path. But there are those who have fallen in love with airplanes and will not be intimidated or dissuaded by a winding path, career uncertainties or by ribbing.
Over lunch, a friend from another magazine described his desire to become a full-time pilot once he retired as a Cheyenne-flying Chairman of Surgery at the University of South Florida. But we all have our van rides to endure and flight departments weren’t taking him seriously. It took determination before one of them recognized the pilot beneath the scrubs. Like finding a fighter pilot beneath long hair and bell-bottoms, Dr. Karl persevered and was hired by JetSuite as a First Officer and later became a PIC. He went on to own a Beech Premier 1 that was totaled by a large bird strike and then a Citation CJ1. Sometimes Hans Christian Andersen’s ugly duckling in bell-bottoms or scrubs doesn’t stop when they see a white swan; they persevere to become an eagle.
Select
Kevin Dingman has been flying for more than 40 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737 and DC9 with 28,000 hours in his logbook. A retired Air Force major, he flew the F-16 and later performed as an USAF Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian organiz tion Wings of Mercy, is employed by a major airline, and owns and operates a Beechcraft Duke.Contact Kevin at dinger10d@ gmail.com.
26 • TWIN & TURBINE / October 2021