So, who am I?
Well…
I was born in England, but raised mostly in Texas. My dad was an Air Force fighter pilot so we moved around a lot. I moved to California in 1989 for a job with Northrop on the B-2 bomber program. Spent 8 years as a Manufacturing Engineer, then another 2 years as a System Test Engineer where I was responsible for testing the hydraulic system on every B-2 before it flew. And boy, does that airplane have a lot of hydraulics.
So I spent 10 great years at Northrop, then got laid off along with most everyone else when we built the last plane. By this time I owned a 1955 Cessna 310 and kept it in a hangar at the local airport. So with all my newly-found spare time, I would go to the airport every day and work on my plane. People noticed me and asked if I could fix their airplanes. So that’s what I did for 7 years, working mostly on 310’s. Somewhere in there (1999) I got my A&P license, followed 3-1/2 years later by my Inspection Authorization.
Then NASA made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I closed up my shop at the airport, and spent the next 6 years at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center (now called Armstrong) at Edwards Air Force Base as an Operations Engineer. I was responsible for all of the Support Aircraft, which was 4 F-18 Hornets, 2 F-15 Eagles, 2 T-38 Talons, 2 King Airs, a Gulfstream G-3, a Beech T-34C and very odd Viet Nam-era observation motorglider. Yes, I was busy.
But I was a contractor, not a civil servant, and when the company I was working for lost the contract renewal, my job simply evaporated. So now I’m back to working on 310’s in the hangar in my back yard. I don’t mind; it’s more fun and so nice to not be dealing with the politics.
So come see me. Let me show you around my shop, and explain what I can do to keep your airplane safe and flying.
Bill
