Hello all:
I recently retired and am now a full-time resident of Marana, AZ, just north of Tucson. Our local airport is AVQ. I'm getting back into flying after a long gap. First step is to get my medical reinstated which I'm doing now (well, actually, my first step was to get my name on a hangar waiting list). Over the years I've owned 4 airplanes which were, in sequence, a 1977 Great Lakes 2T-1A-2, 1988 F33A, 1982 Baron 58TC and finally, a 1998 Baron 58. I was fortunate to have a well paying job. I was single and finally got married after I sold my last plane. Having a nice plane was more important to me than having a car or a house.
Between tech jobs I flew fixed-wing medivac out of Hillsboro, Oregon for six years. We flew MU-2's and LearJets which we flew internationally. Our most frequent trips were patient pick-ups in Hawaii - mostly pre-mature babies and spinal cord (surfing) injuries. We had a couple of LR-36's with the Avcon tip tank extensions giving us a total of 8,190 lbs of fuel!
I'm most definitely a Beechcraft guy. I'll never forget the first time I sat in my F33A. It felt like sitting in an airliner. The F33A is my emotional favorite but I'll probably start looking for a 58 Baron as I like the redundancy of twins, but havent fully decided. My 58TC was TK-147 which along with TK-151 have the newer style dual controls. It was a performance beast and likely more aircraft than i need now.
I've already learned a lot from BeechTalk and hopefully contribute as well.
Thanks!
Bill

Welcome Bill. Not that close but not that far. Fly up to E25 and will give you a tour around…Good luck!
Best,
Tom

Spend winters down there -- have a C33 that I keep at AVQ. Not there right now --
could do lunch sometime! Bill Hale.

Thanks Tom.

Hi Bill.
Great to hear from you. We did some BPT training in the 58TC I owned in Wichita, KS, I believe. I’m looking forward to a lunch.
Regards,
Bill C.

Hi there, also based at Avq but without plane at the moment. S35, v35b, a36 owned there. I’m up in Saddlebrooke if you need a safety pilot.

Thanks John.
Likely, I’m a few months out on owning a plane. I may take you up on the offer when I get established. I’ve looked at the area chart and it’s a complex airspace with the military and parachute activities.

Hi Bill, the Baron is a great machine, enjoy your shopping, welcome to BT.

Thanks John!

Thanks John.
Likely, I’m a few months out on owning a plane. I may take you up on the offer when I get established. I’ve looked at the area chart and it’s a complex airspace with the military and parachute activities.

KRYN has the advantage of a tower (they do a pretty good job), no jumpers, and a bit less dirty than AVQ (there’s quite a bit of farmland near AVQ that’s often in a plowed state). The least dirty of places I’ve been based around here was La Cholla Airpark (57AZ) which has fuel but no other services. AVK really does need a tower and I understand that is in the works.

Thanks Stan.
I plan on driving out to Ryan to take a look around soon.