Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dark
By 1994, Jimmy already had Navy Survival Training (it's mentioned in the report on his Grumman Widgeon crash in August 1994). I am a little dubious that he'd be flying attack aircraft in the late 90s; by 1998 he's fifty-one years old (turning fifty-two on Christmas Day of that year) and (IRL) he had no jet experience, so he'd either be flying jets after a couple years of off-and-on simulator training or prop aircraft with thirteen years of experience. My personal opinion is he'd more likely remain with prop transport or SAR aircraft, possibly even his personal HU-16C Albatross "Hemisphere Dancer" (which was shot at in Jamaica in 1996 and retired in 2003) to allow younger and fitter guys to take the jet aircraft.
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Actually, my understanding is that he was multi-engine rated by 1994. He definitely has his commercial license now. If you watch the 1995 movie
Congo, he is the 727 pilot, and I remember reading an article on the movie and it was commented at that time that he was licensed to fly it, so he was at least rated in 727s then. I had a girlfriend that grew up living by "Uncle Jimmy" and he was taking her up on multi-engine aircraft years before then. He flies a LOT and has a ton of hours by 1996. According to an article on the Widgeon landing accident he had in 1994, he had over 1500 hours logged; 400 in multiengine aircraft.