In early 2001, it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to afford flying, even with the excellent club rates. I'd moved farther north, and found myself spending more and more on commuting costs that my employers would not reimburse. My monthly household expenses had increased, also...my old car died, and I decided to saddle mysewlf with car payments for a vehicle that I could  count on.
In September of 2001, work slowed down in general, and of course there was that terrible period when the sky was silent...

The first flying club meeting after Sept. 11, 2001 was the next Saturday, as I recall. The airlines and IFR flights were back in operation, but the home field was under the outer tier of the NY Class Bravo, so VFR flights to and from that airport would be prohibited for some time yet.

I arrived fairly early, and a few of us were just standing around, not saying much. The grounding was the least of it- we were all still in shock, to varying degrees. Somehow, the fact that aircraft had been used in such a fashion made it worse for us.
I guess I looked a little forlorn, because the president of the club, who had been a P-40 pilot during WWII, flew jets for many years with the ANG, and had been leading the club wisely and patiently for a long time, came up beside me and just put his arm around my shoulder. Neither of us said anything, but i knew he was hurting, too.


For me, things just got worse after that. I just wasn't making enough money to fly- if I did have a hundred dollars or so that wasn't needed immediately for expenses, I'd tell myself what's the point in going flying, if I don't know when I'll be able to do it again? or you'd better hang on to that, you never know...

 Then the airport itself came under seige from developers, and the club withdrew to its secondary home, farther south at Lakewood. The time and expense of going down there to fly became another excuse for me to not fly. Eventually I stopped attending meetings, then I even got behind on my dues. Shortly after I left the club. A long period followed where I simply thought less and less about flying.

I did, however, wake up one fine morning in 2003 and suddenly got an overwhelming urge to go flying. I called the flight school over at Orange County and booked some dual. It was good to get up in the air again, but afterwards I was even more depressed. It just seemed pointless if I wasn't going top stay proficient or move forward to some new flying goal.

I had hoped that attending my first Airventure in 2003 would rekindle my old passion, but although I enjoyed it immensely, by the time I got home from that long drive I was still along way from really wanting to start again.

Before I would start up again, I moved back to Newark, then eventually found a better-paying job. In 2005, after saving up some money, I decided to make a new start, this time with a flight school I had overlooked during my initial search back in '95, at one of the fields closer to me, 47N. I knew it was going to be like starting all over, to some extent, but I could afford it now, so I had to try.