I’ve known since I was 14 years old that I would fly helicopters. My family knew I would fly earlier. When I was about 2, my mom caught me swinging from the dining room chandelier and my dad rescued me from sky high in the family oak tree.

I’m a graduate of Kirkwood High School, Class of ’87, where I played some hockey, chased a lot of girls and, in general, tried to find … I mean keep out of trouble. I truly began my career in aviation when I was 18 years old. I fueled up the corporate jets at Spirit Airport. I can remember shivering in the bitter cold on the tarmac and making a personal vow to myself that I would reach my goal to be a pilot. I began flying fixed-wing and got my private license at age 19.

I joined Helicopters Inc. in 1991 and began flying ENG (Electronic News Gathering), for KMOV in 1999. After three years as their pilot, FOX 2 lured me away. It was a great opportunity to fly a larger, faster, more powerful camera ship. I’ve covered plane crashes, train derailments, searches for missing children, storm damage, you name it! I’ve seen it all in SKYFOX, even Cardinal baseball. Yes, that was me hovering over Busch Stadium on ‘Opening Day’ so the official ‘team photographer’ could take a commemorative picture.

If you had asked me all those years ago on that tarmac if I thought that I would one day be flying SKYFOX, I would have said, ‘absolutely yes’. But me talking on TV? You gotta be kidding!