Patrick Mack:  

Life Graduated From Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1992. I was supposed to go right to Undergraduate Pilot Training for the Air Force but due to cutbacks in the military after the Gulf War I got out of the service. I was lucky enough to get to fly fighters like the F-16 and F-15 for two weeks before my senior year of college. I do miss that though. I bounced back and forth between NY and Florida a few times for flying jobs. Had fun partying with Mike Simons and Ben Donovan while they were doing graduate work at S.U. and I worked for Mohawk Airlines in Syracuse. I lived in Florida for a total of 6 years. Four in Daytona and two in Orlando. Survived a tornado that killed over 40 people in my area in Orlando in 1998, it hit on the night I got back from ferrying a small plane to the Cayman Islands. I flew over Cuba to get there in a 2 seat, single engine airplane. The longest leg of the trip was two hours over the waters of the Carribean. Of course the engine sputtered at about the halfway point and about gave me a heart attack. I was never so glad to see land. I did get to spend the next few days scuba diving before flying back. I moved back to Horseheads and got into town the night of our 10th year reunion and became a pilot for Coach USA at Elmira/Corning a month later. I was even able to take Todd Rodabaugh up for a flight in our turboprop King Air. (Thanks for the great deal on the Serengeti sunglasses, by the way.) Got engaged on 12/31/99 but due to the unusual shedule that my career demands (and the need not have things thrown at me)we split up in Feb '02. I was flying jets for Seneca Flight Operations out of Penn Yan, NY but was laid off a month after September 11th. I was actually flying that day as everything started happening. I was hired in January '02 by Allegheny Airlines/USAirways Express and awaiting a training class date when they started furloughing the pilots they already had. Luckily I found a position in Rochester in May of '02 flying for a company called USAirports Air Charters. I am currently a Captain on the King Air B200 turboprop as well as the Gulfstream 100 jet. We take the jet all over the U.S. and some international trips like Mexico, Canada, Turks & Caicos and other caribbean islands, even to Scotland. The travel can be fun at times, especially since it can be basically an all expenses paid vacation to these places - but the schedule can be tiring sometimes and plays hell with having relationships. The being on-call 24/7 can get old...Expand for more