Actually, I think he would have moved on from that job a lot earlier except that the owners paid for him to get his pilots license and then paid him to fly -- something I know he really loved.

He eventually created his own startup outfitting (mostly automotive) manufacturing plants with ... just about anything. His company (being that it was actually his) also paid him to fly to various far flung (often rural) automotive plants -- it was often a business advantage that my Dad could drive 30m to the airport where his plane was stored and fly to a plant in any of the bordering states in as little as 30 minutes.

I recall a story where one of the plants was 2-3 hours from any airport you could get a commercial flight into, and you always had to connect at Chicago O'Hare[0]. The only way to get there for day shift was to take the earliest flight out, but that flight was always cancelled and everyone was tossed on the next flight that left 2 hours later. Some days took 10 hours flying commercial ... it's like a 12 hour drive from here. When the plane was available[1], there was a small landing strip 10 minutes from the plant. I'm guessing it was 3-4 hours in the air (and a lot of time over Lake Michigan) in the Piper Cherokee but I have no idea ... it no more than 40 minutes of driving, though!

[0] Which, apparently, was folly at every turn.

[1] He shared it with a few other men but his company was the one using it the vast majority of the time.

> Be kind. Don't be snarky.