Q2 - Cessna

Customer ProfileSINCE HESTARTEDFLYING,HE JUSTHASN’TSTOPPEDBob Kean isn’t one of those pilots who lookedskyward at age six and couldn’t imagine goinganywhere but up.But after entering the Army during World War IIhe developed a passion for flying that hasn’tlet up over nearly seven decades. At age 89, heplans to remain in the pilot’s seat as long ashe can fly regularly in the Cessna 182H hebought new in 1965.Kean, who will turn 90 in August, is a retired waterutility executive who lives in Oldwick, N.J.Married with five grown boys, each summer hespends a month on Cape Cod in Mass., and eachwinter travels to Florida. Both trips come aboardthe Skylane, which is based at Solberg Airport, aCessna Service Center, when he’s home in NewJersey. All together, he’s accumulated more than4,800 hours at the controls.“He’s a fine gentleman, delightful, intelligent andenthusiastic about flying. He handles the planebeautifully. He’s not afraid of the wind,” says SuzySolberg Nagle, whose family operates SolbergAirport in Readington.Photos courtesy of Nico Kean. Bob Kean shows his granddaughter Schuyler “Sky” Kean his 1965Skylane several years ago when she was six.Off to Flight School and WarKean joined the Army ROTC during college andreported for active duty after graduation in 1943.While at training camp, “I saw these little planescoming in. It intrigued me and I signed up.”“The romance and freedom offlying soon enthralled me,and have stayed with meundiminished ever since.”-Bob KeanFlight school was with the infantry-supportingartillery. He learned to fly in Pittsburg, Kan., from acivilian crop duster, and trained as a field artilleryspotter at Fort Sill, Okla. “Once I got started and feltI could handle it, I was sold,” he says. “You didn’thave any ammunition or means of defense, but youcould call in three battalions of artillery.”PLEASE SEE NEXT PAGEKean shipped out to Europe in late 1944 andserved with an infantry division in Belgium andGermany, with action including the Battle of theBulge and the Bridge at Remagen. “We didn’tthink it terribly dangerous; they didn’t go afterus,” he says of the Messerschmidts and Stukasthat zoomed by in attempts to destroy that keybridge over the Rhine.The Battle of the Bulge had alarming moments.“Our position was overrun at dawn on December16, and we took off one by one, avoiding tracersfrom Tiger tanks rumbling over the side of a hillto our east. It was close to the ground flying. Wedid not operate out of airports. We picked fieldsand sometimes roads, whatever you neededto land a bunch of planes on. Fields with cowsmeant no land mines,” he says, recalling that foryears afterward he could not look at roads andfields without wondering if they could serve as alanding strip.Generally, “we led a pretty good life,” he says ofhis service, which earned him a DistinguishedFlying Cross.Never Stopped FlyingBack in the States, Kean couldn’t stay away fromaviation.“It was hard to give it up. I’d go to little airportsand rent something. I found out if you signed upto the reserves, they let you fly a certain numberof hours on the government – they wanted to keepthese pilots’ skills up,” Kean says.He bought his first plane and then a secondbefore settling on the Skylane he owns to this day.“I think it’s a very safe and stable plane, I like thevisibility and it’s fast enough to get you there.”Paint and regular maintenance aside, Kean hasn’tdone much to his 182 in four-plus decades. “Ifancied up the cabin with good leather about fiveyears ago,” he says. “Otherwise, it is still theperfect plane for me.”Most of his time aloft is for fun. “Flying is one of thefavorite things I do on vacation. I rarely fly straight andlevel. I enjoy practicing various maneuvers andlandings. I go out over islands or watch the whalesnear Provincetown, then I go back and shoot somelandings there.”Trips to Florida, with a son along, are more involved.He’ll stop for the night in Charleston or Hilton Head,S.C., or Savannah, Ga. Then it’s on to North PalmBeach County Airport, where he keeps the plane. Onreturn trips, the nighttime stop is usually atDare County Airport on North Carolina’s OuterBanks – “I stop by there for seafood.”The Skylane winters in Florida. After the season off,when Kean returns to the cockpit, “I act like a newpilot and teach myself how to fly again. If I was onlyflying every couple of months, I think that would bedangerous. It’s a year-to-year thing at this age.I have a belief that you shouldn’t fly unless youfly a lot.”Bob Kean and “Sky” Kean in the cockpit of his 182H.page page2223www.cessna.com