My older brother and I  started our airline 
careers with ONA/UACI in the summer of 1984 
in Saudi Arabia on the Hadj as fledgling 
copilots on the DC-8. Neither one of us had 
much experience and went from flying little 
airplanes straight to the right seat. Talk 
about a baptism by fire!! Anyway with the 
indulgences of people like Kevin Keegan, 
Brian Williams, Val Bednekoff, Mark Burnett, 
Ted Maule, Ernie Trapaga, and Jim Gay, and  
numerous others we finally became proficient.  

After the Hadj was over that year, I got based 
in New York and started flying the Air India 
contract where I flew quite a bit with Bob 
Travelute and Jim Tweddale. I also flew with 
Doug Morey, Mark Burnett, Dave Cody, Steve 
Truax, Larry Martinson, and a few passenger 
trips with Al Wintermeyer, and Dick McConnell.  
There was even a trip or two with Paul Everard.  

After the demise of ONA (for the last time), in  
December 1985, I went to work for a little one 
horse airline called Trans International 
(they had bought the name from Trans America) 
and flew the Morris Air charters with Ted Secola, 
Bob Travelute, Jim Tweddale, Dick McConnell,
and Dom DeVito.  

The F/O's were myself, Kenny Donn, Don Martin, 
Jay Forbes, and Pete Parker. The engineers were 
Ted Stowe, Bill Mogey, Brian Aiken, Freddy Retter, 
and Jack Howell.  

Anyway I flew an awful lot with Bob Travelute, 
and quite a bit with Ted Secola and Jim Tweddale 
as well. I must say that Bob Travelute was the 
most demanding Captain I have ever flown with to  
this day. He demanded excellence and taught me 
an awful lot about flying, and having said that I 
will tell you that he is the one that made a real 
pilot out of me, and for that I will always be 
thankful to him and have a special place in my 
heart. That man could really fly!!  

All the guys I flew with from ONA were good pilots!  

Anyway, the DC-8 was the only airplane I flew for 
ONA and I continued to have a love affair with it 
long after ONA was gone. TIA came and went after 
about 6 months or so, then I flew for Rosenbalm, 
and then returned to a reincarnation of TIA out of 
Orlando again. There I flew with Bob Callahan 
(former ONA), Lee Dee, Tom Rachford, Dave McCloy 
and a few others whose names escape me at the moment. 
At this incarnation of TIA I upgraded to Captain 
and was fortunate to never have to fly in the 
right seat of the airplane again. 

My career at that point went ONA, Rosenbalm, TIA, 
Trans Continental, and America West Airlines in 1990.  
I flew as an F/O on the B-737 for about 9 months and 
then got furloughed. I went back to the trusty DC-8 
at Emery World Wide, got furloughed in 1992, then 
Air Marshall Islands for 18 months or so, then ATI 
for about four months, then a brief stint at Arrow 
Air for about six weeks and finally got recalled to 
America West.  

That would have been April of 1994 and I have been 
there flying the Airbus A320 ever since. America West 
had a few ONA guys like Lynn Reynolds, FAST 
Eddie Chandler, and a few others. I upgraded to 
Captain on the A320 in 1999 and have been there ever  
since.  

My wife Jeanie and I live in Phoenix, (no commute 
thank God!) where I am based with the new US Airways 
(AWA and US Air merged in 2005). Even though it is 
now 23 odd years since flying for ONA, it really was 
my favorite job. The people, the flying, and the 
layovers made it so memorable. It was what flying was 
all about.  The landscape in this industry is sure 
different these days.

My brother Mark left ONA the same time I did when it 
shut down (we were both furloughed at the time) and 
went to Rosenbalm. After about two years there he 
was hired at Flying Tigers and then, of course was  
at Fed EX until 2003 where he was an MD-11 check airman.   
Unfortunately, he was killed in a light airplane 
accident on February 21, 2003. It seems like just 
yesterday.

Greetings to all!

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