did you know?

Here’s a little fun fact about Josh: I had/have a great ambition to be an aerobatic pilot.

As a child, I observed my father share with me a love of airplanes. As a man who was a private pilot himself, and as one who worked in the aviation industry for nearly 35 years of his life, I’m sure it was hard for him not to have a passion to pass onto his son.

I remember very vividly playing football in the street, baseball in the yard and pausing a moment while my father shared with me: A. What type of plane was overhead B. Where it was coming from. C. What airliner it was. It was always interesting to hear what he knew.

I remember fondly sitting in the car on a side portion of Lindberg Field (San Diego’s Airport), watching the planes take off and land with such sound and fury. Nowadays this pastime is restricted due to security measures – but I’ll always remember this privilege with my dad.

I remember greatly many Sunday afternoons that were spent across the street from Montgomery Field (small airport in San Diego) having lunch at In-N-Out. It was there that my father and I would listen to the air traffic talk between the control tower and other pilots on our scanner radio.

With all of these experiences, and more, it gave me an incredible desire to pilot an aerobatic airplane. Specifically this plane:


The Extra 300S was the plane that I wanted back in the day, now they have the Extra 300L. Around the time that I realized God was calling me to teaching and not being a lawyer, I put a realization to the fact that financially, Lutheran school teaching might not afford me such an opportunity to log countless flight hours – working my way to an aerobatic plane.

Recently the topic was brought back to the forefront of thought, and couldn’t help but relive childhood joy as it has become adulthood ambition.