Hi, My name is Twinkie (official name is Piper Twin Comanche PA-30) and I look pretty good for my age, don’t I!?

I was born in 1964 and spent a good portion of my life in Switzerland, but I do not remember much about that period of my life. Then I was taken to Chad, in Central Africa of all places, where I spent a couple of years waiting for my engines to be overhauled, but my parent at the time could not afford it. So, I waited and waited… Finally this nice guy from the US came along and, with the permission of his accommodating wife, adopted me. I was so delighted as he immediately took painstaking steps to completely restore me to the current condition, which I like very much.

Actually, the whole process took some 3 years, a lot of money and an enormous amount of work by my daddy, who kind of got in trouble with my new mommy as he was always spending time with me and not with her. I kind of understand why she would be upset, but I knew that her time would come. Anyhow, from the time that I was adopted in February 2000 to the middle of 2003, he was constantly working on me, but now he is pretty well finished and so now he can spend more time with my mommy. She is a pretty nice lady too, but does not like to ride me too much when the weather is bad – I can also understand that, as I do not particularly like it myself.

Before I tell you more about my new mommy and daddy, let me tell you about the new home they built for me: a wonderful hangar at Holley Mountain Airpark! Imagine that! Take a look at the picture – isn’t it gorgeous!? It is a big beautiful home all to myself, although they now have this big thing called a 5th wheel RV where they stay when they come over. I do not mind it too much, I suppose, as they need to stay somewhere until their own home is built. The hangar is pretty well finished and they are now planning to build a small studio-type apartment so that they could be more comfortable when they come over. I like that idea, as that way they can come over more often and be comfortable themselves (more comfortable than in that big thing that is taking up MY space in my gorgeous hangar. I’m not jealous or anything, but it IS taking up a lot of space.)

Now let me tell you about my new mommy and daddy. She is from Brooklyn, New York an old and crowded place, but she has been living in New Jersey ever since she got hooked up with my daddy. She still has a Brooklyn (New York) accent after all these years (I can’t tell you how many years, as I am not allowed to say), but I think the accent is kind of cute! She is a very nice and accommodating lady, as I said before and she really gets along with people. She works part time in a medical practice with some special nutritionists or something like that and she is also very excited about one day moving over to Holley Mountain – she can’t wait, just like me!
My daddy has some pretty important job at a big bank in New York City and I don’t know exactly what he does, but it has something to do with credit examination, whatever that is. He is also extremely excited about moving over to Holley Mountain, but he has to wait until he retires. He has a pretty tough life with pressures at work and also 2 hour commute to work each way from New Jersey to Manhattan. He is so stressed that he does not even get a chance to ride me very much, but his time will come, too. Anyhow, the main thing that keeps him going is his dream of Holley Mountain – that’s all he talks about!! Well, I can certainly understand that, as it is a gorgeous place.

A couple more things about the family and then I’ll be quiet. They have one son (unrelated to me as he is human) and a granddaughter. She is cute! She came over to visit me a couple of times and I think she likes me! Maybe when she gets a little older she can ride me – I’m sure she would like that.
Well, that’s a brief story of my life. Now, I just have to be patient for one day when my mommy and daddy take me to that wonderful place – Holley Mountain Airpark. That way we can all be home together in our gorgeous home. I already have mine and then one day they can build theirs, right next to mine. I can’t wait!! Oh well, I remember my long wait in Africa and my patience paid off – look how lucky I am to have my newly adopted parents – they are the best!!!

Happy Twinkie.