I learned to fly in Leavenworth, KS. Leavenworth’s hangars are full of beautiful Mooneys and lots more stop in from the surrounding area. After earning my private license I couldn’t wait to find one of my own.

A retired navy man happened to be selling his 1964 M20C. I was already sold on the old plane when I asked him who the “Olivia” on the cowling referred to. When he told me it was Olivia Newton-John (my dad’s favorite singer) I couldn’t write the check fast enough.

Since that day two years ago I have spent more than 300 hours in the skies with Olivia, earning my instrument rating and traveling the Midwest. It didn’t take much convincing when a friend asked me to pick him up in Waukegan, IL on our way to a camping trip in Tower, MN. I proudly filed my IFR flight plan and headed to pick him up. Things were beautiful on the way to Waukegan and we were quickly on our way past Milwaukee to Tower. As we neared Duluth we were warned in a friendly northern accent that there was plenty of rain between us and Tower. My friend calmly browsed the ipad as we wandered into the clouds.

The Mooney performed flawlessly, and as we neared Tower we broke free of the clouds, and the lakes and runway came into view. We landed on the soggy pavement and my friend hopped out of the plane. “How long have you been flying in the clouds?” he asked. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera ready when I told him it was my first one.

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