In the few years just before and just after I graduated from college, before I could afford flight training (let alone think about owning or building an airplane), I did a lot of airshow photography and writing for aviation magazines and websites. It was in that context that I got to talk with "Team Rocket"s Ken Fowler and Eric Hansen a few times, when they and I were at the same airshow. One of those times, in 2007, Ken offered to take me up for a ride during the media day / practice day, the day before the airshow. This was my first ride in an “RV” (yeah, a Rocket, but y’know, close enough…). As I’m sure you can imagine, I basically fell in love with the airplane. Four years later, less than a year after I became a private pilot, I bought an RV...
Here is a photo from 2012, of me thanking Ken for introducing me (five years earlier) to our favorite series of airplanes: