AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 40

MARCIN WOLSKI
BRIEFING
MUSINGS /
Second chances
I never stopped dreaming of my first aircraft
BY JAY TAFFET
the eight years that I owned it,
including a specially designed,
custom paint scheme. So, being
that I specialize in finding offmarket
aircraft for transactions
in my business (Gracen Jules),
I used this skill set to see if the
impossible might be possible-
bringing my Arrow home.
I consulted the FAA aircraft
registry and searched through
Google and FlightAware, and there
it was, at a rural airport in Georgia
and seemingly idle with little flight
history. With no actionable search
returns on the owner (no phone
number or email), I contacted the
airport manager where the airplane
was based, explained my search,
and asked him to forward an email
that I'd send to him introducing me
and my history with the Arrow.
The airport manager said
he would try to get my reach in
front of the owner that week, and
sure enough, he did. The current
ONE OF LIFE'S GREATEST TREASURES is second chances. I've been lucky to have
plenty of them, but nothing as special as the one that happened last summer.
I bought a Piper Arrow II in 2003, at the suggestion of my grandfather, a longtime
Beechcraft Bonanza V-tail owner, and flew this wonderful airplane all over
the country for the next eight years. In 2011, because of a life change that took me
from Alabama to New Orleans, I had to sell my Arrow and all the freedom and
convenience that it represented.
I spent the next decade flying sporadically and, to be honest, missing my
Arrow. I was blessed with meeting my wife and starting a family and I was busy
navigating various projects and ventures in aviation, but I never stopped thinking
about the opportunity and freedom of having an airplane.
This past spring my aviation ventures had matured to the point of justifying
aircraft ownership again, so I started the process of finding an airplane that would
support my business and provide fun travel opportunities for my family of four.
I worked through the options and finances of various Piper models (I've been a
Piper man since earning my wings in high school), but I couldn't stop thinking
about my Arrow.
I had not just loved owning and operating that airplane, I had also invested
two lifetimes in replacing, repairing, and restoring almost every inch of it over
40
AOPA PILOT / August 2023
owner of the Arrow called me, and, after a brief
conversation, said he'd be happy to sell me
the airplane and return it to its former owner.
Overjoyed doesn't do my reaction justice (which
I guess is not good in negotiating a purchase, but
he had already offered a very fair price), and I
put the wheels in motion.
A few weeks later, after lining up financing,
basing, insurance, prebuy, and positioning
logistics, I was on my way to Georgia from
New Orleans to pick up my Arrow. A brutal
airline trip and 100-mile Uber ride later, there
I was standing in front of a ghost, a memory of
this special aircraft that had brought so much
happiness into my life all those years ago. And
climbing in for the first time in more than a
decade, it was just surreal; it was still in mint
condition given that the owner, a tenured A&P,
had cared for it as much as I did.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023

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