Just a month or so ago I got a letter stating it was time to renew my aircraft insurance from First Flight Insurance Co. I dutifully did this because… well… it’s insurance and accidents happen. Last week I got a letter from them saying that First Flight had elected to stop providing insurance to the Part 103 (Ultralight aircraft) community. The US Ultralight Association to which I belong said that they are scrambling to find a new insurance carrier but in the mean time, no ultralights would have insurance. I didn’t think much more about it other than I would just wait and see what USUA came up with as far as insurance companies.
Then, this past Wednesday I get a text out of the blue asking if my P3 Lite Powered Parachute was still for sale. I was tempted to say no because I’ve been getting sporadic interest in it from an ad I placed on a PPC equipment for sale website. But they had incorrectly listed my location as Albany NY. So I was getting calls from guys in New York who would ask lots of questions and then hang up when they found out I was in California. I had decided not to sell the P3. I’ve really been enjoying flying it. But then I got this text asking if my P3 was still for sale. I first told him that the aircraft is in California and then asked him if he was still interested. He responded yes.
There ensued a long text exchange (during one of the busiest weeks I have had at work in a long while) between the prospective buyer and I. I didn’t really believe he was serious until he started asking when he could come pick it out and was cash okay? So this (Saturday) morning he showed up at 7am, handed me the agreed-upon price in cash, loaded up my powered parachute and drove back to Arizona.
At first I was just kind of amused thinking about how fast these events occurred. But then I started thinking about it a little deeper with respect to the Providence of God. The timing is just TOO coincidental. Since I don’t believe in coincidence or luck, I believe it is God’s Providence. That within two weeks my aircraft insurance should be cancelled and refunded, by the way, and my aircraft sold… well… it just feels like this was God’s plan for me. I have spiritual ears and I’m using them to listen to what He’s trying to tell me.
So… what’s the plan now? Am I done with aviation? Nope. In fact I’m going full circle. In my aviation career I have rented, owned, built two fixed wing airplanes, sold them, got into parachute aviation, and have now returned to renting fixed wing again. And really when I think about it, my whole reason for going with the parachutes was to have a way to fly that was very portable. Renting airplanes in different parts of the country is even more portable. I don’t need any special place to store an aircraft, don’t need to bring any tools to maintain it, and no maintenance records to track. I’ll miss owning my own aircraft for the bragging rights if nothing else but in reality this really lifts a burden from me.
I’m going to be contacting a local flying club that a friend is a member of and begin flying with them. I’ll be flying a Cessna 152, which is essentially the same aircraft I learned to fly in. It’s a whole circle of life thing. Looks like I’ll be ending my aviation career as I began it. And there is nothing wrong with that.
Stay tuned for more pictures and video from the next chapter of my aviation story.
Air Prayer 