Ken Swain N4ZZ VariEze and N16FW Defiant

Good day and thank you for listening to the first episode of Season Two! My name is David Williford. Our first guest can only be described as a seasoned command pilot. Ken Swain has more than 30,000 hours flying everything from the biggest C5 Galaxy to the smallest Rutan VariEze. Ken lives in rural North Central Illinois an hour and a half from Chicago, where he supports his second career as a Captain for United operating out of Chicago O'Hare. Ken’s aviation career started with Air Force ROTC at Texas Tech in the Fall of 1970. He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree with honors. At the time, the US military was operating under a draft, and his draft number was 30, so it was either go to college or go to Vietnam! The recruiter tested Ken where he scored with top marks and discovered he had the aptitude to be a pilot. His first flying was completed in a Cherokee 140 at a private pilot program in the Texas Panhandle compliments of the military. Ken recalls training at Reese Air Force Base in the Texas panhandle as mostly a battle with the wind. Ken and his wife of 48 years, Nancy have raised twin daughters and for a time he was able to boast the only 4 place VariEze on the planet. Ken served in Desert Storm flying C5’s globally. Other military transport aircraft experience includes the C141 he was assigned out of pilot training. Ken retired 20 years having served 10 years Active Duty and 10 years in the reserves, completing his career in the reserves in May of 1994. He currently owns both a VariEze N4ZZ and a Defiant N16FW and he discusses his latest trip into Rough River in his Defiant with Izzy Briggs at the Rough River airport!