While an ATC at DuPage Airport, West Chicago control tower it was very important to learn aircraft identification. When I arrive at the tower in 1981 I knew military aircraft and civil counterparts as well as types I had flown. But when using binoculars to help separate and control the aircraft it was much easier if you knew the types. So I went to the library and check out issues of “Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft” and taught myself what I needed within the week. I was still new training on the tower position and one day it got busy with lots of different types (we were 3rd busiest airport in Illinois, behind Chicago O’Hare and Chicago Midway airports but we were only general aviation — no airlines. Lots of corporate, freighters, flying clubs, training schools, and 500 airplanes based, including WWII aircraft). The supervisor training me that hour said aircraft recognition training was not useful, so to test me he pulled all my strips (tiles with aircraft call signs) out of position and told me to put them back in order. Now, everyone would just ask every plane their position and this took many transmissions. To prove my point I used the binoculars and as I found each aircraft I lined them all up, but two were the same type so I asked the one to rock his wings and that was that—one transmission to sort out 12 aircraft. The supervisor training me just said, “Fxxx You” and laughed. The manager then asked me to teach a/c recognition to the rest of the controllers, who were anxious to learn! So I developed a slide program (I was given carte blanch on the field with a radio to photograph all the types based and then I went to other airports on my off time to get more) with a text. It worked so well that my manager told other tower managers in the area and soon I was making copies for not only Chicago area but also by managerial word-of-mouth I also made copies for Oklahoma City and Las Vegas as well as some other Illinois towers. So I expanded the course a bit and entered it in the FAA suggestion program; the FAA selected it and paid me $1000 award.
After becoming certified I volunteered to train new people coming in and had to take a course for Instructors. I trained controllers there from 1982 until I transferred to Iowa in 1995.
As for Civil Air Patrol, my first assignment was Aerospace Education Officer before being promoted to Deputy Commander for Cadets; that had me teaching the cadets (it was a composite squadron, seniors and cadets) what was essentially ground school. With cadet interest I ran my recognition course for them and then I did another course with military aircraft.
Upon transfer to Iowa I was again training “new kids” and redid my recognition course to eliminate types that were rare there and included all the airline types as well as military types which were routine there.
Upon my retirement in April 2008, I as accepted as a contract instructor beginning in June for the next 18 months before lay-off. That had me sent to Oklahoma City for training. The training program hadn’t had a full update in years, just “jerry-rigged” with newer stuff, and of the 20 radar simulation problems no one knew what was in them and what was supposed to be learned, only that the higher numbers were more difficult—no scripts available, having been lost long ago. So I completely revised the training program to make it up-to-date and then ran all 20 problems two or three times each so as to reverse-engineer scripts for them.
By that time I had been studying apologetics for many years and had been teaching Sunday School classes for adults and teens. Eventually, in 2007, a pastor told me I needed a blog to teach apologetics on and he helped me set it up.
I haven’t taught classes for a few years, but I continue teaching—I have bagpipe students.
I’ve always enjoyed teaching and if I had ever gone to college it would have been to be a teacher. After all, along with my wife we homeschooled our children!
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