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“I definitely think about it,” he said. “Unfortunately, when I put my hobbies into shows I’m creating, it usually makes the hobby a little less interesting to me. I don’t want to kill the joy of flying airplanes.”
He acknowledges that it will be hard to fight those instincts, though. While learning to fly at San Ynez Airport (KIZA), he felt pulled deeper into the aviation community, often joining a group of about 10 octogenarian pilots who would gather at the hangar for morning coffee. None of the group knew Linson’s name so they gave him the nickname Bro because he has a habit of referring to everyone as Bro.
“I would go and have coffee with this group nearly every day,” he
said. “They were World War II and Vietnam vets, mechanics and guys who were super into aviation. There was Jim Kunkle, Sr., a pilot whose P-38 was shot down in WWII, and Charlie Plumb, whose F-4 was shot down in Vietnam where he spent six years as a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton.”
From bikers to ranchers to pilots, he’s drawn to study the people and the environments that make up these subcultures.
“Sitting with these guys every day at that airport and learning about the aviation industry from them made me realize it’s a dying culture,” he said. “It was a cool entry into being a pilot for me. Sadly, most of those guys are gone now. I loved the
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NOVEMBER 2024