Hi all, First off, thank you for the welcome Keith!
As the name says, I'm Gary and from the sound of things, I may very well be the "old man" of this motley crew. Like many have said, I too have always had a deep love for all things aviation...comes from my Dad I think, he flew B-17s, 29s and was a test pilot on the old B-36 Peacemaker. My first sojourn into aviation was my after-school job driving a fuel truck around the Morgantown-Lenoir Airport in North Carolina...before I had my driver's license. Not much pay in that one but I got to fly! I still have fond(?) memories of getting to right-seat an old BE-18 that always stunk of chicken-shit...it was used to fly baby chicks from farm to farm.
I moved into professional aviation via the USAF...starting at the Academy...spent 8 years wearing the blue as an Air Traffic Controller culminating as a Crew Chief for the USAF equivalent of Flight Check...we more or less evaluated and certified USAF ATC installations met all the requirements necessary. That gig took me around the world several times. After my discharge, I applied for the FAA and was assigned to the KLAS TRACON...then came Reagan (and you know the result).
From there, it was on to Denver...landed a coveted position as Asst Operations Manager for the old Stapleton Airport...most significant incident there was being on duty during the Continental Flight 1713 accident...not the fondest of memories for me. Well, the next 15 years or so turned out much better; I was asked to take on the job of Airport Planner for the Denver Intl Airport...I consider it the biggest "thumbprint" of my professional life. It was a great opportunity and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After opening, I moved back to the ops side and became the Airport Operations Director for the airport. After having my fill of the airport-side, I took an early retirement from Denver in 1999; bought a motorcycle and spent the next two years traveling across the US & Canada.
Through a quirk of fate, I was approached by two engineering firms from the KDEN project - one to work on a project at KLAX, and one to work with NASA on several projects for the US NAS. I took the NASA gig. That evolved with me joining NASA and becoming one of the core members of the group that generated the NEXTGEN program...congressional sub-committees can be SO much fun! Ah well, our little group was disbanded when President Bush decided he wanted to go to Mars and NASA had to adjust funding priorities...we got riffed. (What's with these presidents anyway?)
Ah well, thoroughly disenchanted with government service, I moved to my current locale (AJ's birthplace) and opened my own business in art conservation and restoration. Having spent my professional career with my feet on terra firma, my airborne side has been indulged via simulator. I started with Bruce Artwick's earliest products (before the Miegs era). It was my one and only foray in Apple computing. (I actually met Bruce once at some simulation conference.) I joined VATSIM in 2001 but took a few years to get really active mostly on the controlling side. This has culminated in my working at vZBW as controller, instructor and TA...working for VATUSA as Regional Director...and finally my second term as Division Director. I know I MUST be a masochist at heart.
I'm thrilled to be here amongst friends (Paul, Dan, Shawn, Mike, and Keith) continuing the pursuit. For those who may not know me yet, I look forward to working with and getting to know you. So the ride continues....
Gary