Readers often ask: is there anything or anyone in your books that is taken from real life? Well, yeah: I was a private pilot.
Yes, that’s correct. Bill and I owned a Cessna 172 in which I earned my private pilot’s license. The year I did that, I set a goal of landing at every private airfield in New Jersey. I would take a picture near a sign that identified the airport.
Bill learned to fly when he was a teenager and owned several small planes before we met. At some point, we decided to buy a Cessna 172 and hence began my flying lessons. I soloed at Lincoln Park Airport on what is usually described as landing on a “pencil” because the runway is narrow.
You may have noticed that in the Star O’Brien books, Lorcan is a pilot and owns a Piper. I drew upon my flying experiences to write the flying scenes in the book.