The Flying Years
After all this posturing about the business of aviation, I finally started down the path to personal flying in 1991, and eventually earned my private pilot's license, a floatplane rating, and an instrument rating. My solo flight and "maiden voyage" following each rating were designated as AirSkunk flights, and, of course, the flight numbers were then promptly retired.
Just about every first solo flight is made in a dreamliner.
In 1997, to commemorate the sale of a company I started in 1985, my wife threw a big party with an AirSkunk theme. She'd slyly seen to the manufacture of AirSkunk shirts, bags, pencils, matches, coozies, caps, and more, including a stack of AirSkunk business cards. And, as you can see, we even have a web site.
AirSkunk is a figment of the imagination, but given the tendency of major airlines to aggressively hype their products, the sparky irreverance of an "airline" like AirSkunk, which can go where no other air carrier dares set down, provides plenty of comic relief when I can't be in the left seat.
We like to think that if you actually had a choice in air travel, you just might - every once in a while -
Fly AirSkunk Airlines.
In the United States, it is traditional for the flight instructor to cut the back out of the student pilot's shirt upon successful completion of his or her first solo.
No self-respecting "airline" ignores the potential allure of international markets. So here's our executive team in Hong Kong in May, 1997, just prior to the handover. We flew over the harbor alongside the HK skyline, and even performed a low approach over the new HK airport then under construction, all while operating under very tight air traffic control.
Of course there's gotta be some fine print! So, not to be outdone by the majors, AirSkunk, the AirSkunk logo, the AirSkunk skunk tail, ASK Services, WindFall, WindPass, "Fly In Simulated Comfort," "A New Experience In Cabin Pressure," "We Love To Land And It Shows" and other AirSkunk slogans are trademarks of David M. Zumwalt.
AirSkunk is not a certificated air carrier. We're just "Painting The White Stripes Down Texas' Newest Highways Of The Air." No commercial aviation services are offered by AirSkunk, although AirSkunk will status match your standing in any airline serving the same destinations and timetable as AirSkunk. No actual skunks have been harmed, except, perhaps, by sheer embarrassment.
