Here I am in the left seat of a Bell47G2.

Here I am in the left seat of an Enstrom F280F, lifting off and turning away from the pad.

Here I am in the left seat of an Enstrom F28A, smoothly picking up and transitioning into a 3 foot hover.

A little about us...

Hello, my name is Rex Jester (aka 'Rexbo') and I am an FAA licensed Commercial Pilot, with Airplane Single-Engine and Multi-Engine Land and Sea, Rotorcraft-Helicopter and Instrument Airplane ratings. Helicopters and Seaplanes (I prefer 'floats' to 'hulls') are my favorite forms of flying.

I am an FAA Certified Flight Instructor with Single-Engine, Multi-Engine and Instrument Airplane ratings, as well as Advanced and Instrument Ground Instructor ratings. I am currently working toward the Rotorcraft-Helicopter CFI rating.

I am an FAA licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic currently serving as an Aircraft Inspector with a major air carrier. I am systems and powerplant qualified on all our fleet aircraft and hold run and taxi ratings on most types. Our current aircraft fleet includes various B727, B747, DC-10, MD-11, A300 and A310 types.

I am a current member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Seaplane Pilots Association, Experimental Aircraft Association and a gold-card carrying member of the National Association of Flight Instructors. I am a firm believer in education and recurrent training to hone skills and enhance safety. As such, I am an active participant in the FAA WING's Program and regularly attend safety seminars. One of my favorites was Operation Raincheck, which gave a lot of good insight into the other side of the radio...the ATC guys. We got a lot of information on their expectations, their equipment and capabilities, as well as good information on local area airspace and flight procedures. they talked about common mistakes that pilots make in this area, and gave us good contact numbers if we had any questions. I encourage all fellow aviators to take advantage of the FAA sponsored seminars...it's a team sport.

My education includes Associate of Applied Science degrees in Aviation Maintenance Technology, Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering, a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics, a Master of Business Administration/Aviation (MBA/A) and a Master of Aeronautical Science (MAS) degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. My minors have always centered around human factors, which play a major role in our daily aviation environment.

So, with all of that said, you can see that I am totally emersed in aviation and have been since I was a very young man. I have a picture of my father holding me in the front yard when I was under two years old and I am pointing up at a DC-3. I was an airport kid and spent most Sunday afternoons walking around the airport ramp, with my old aircraft band radio in my hand (they didn't have scanners in those days) tuning from approach to tower to ground and listening to the pilots talk on the radio and watching the traffic come and go. While this may have seemed to be a waste of time to some, it taught me early on how to communicate on the radio and has served me well over the years. So, the next time you see that kid walking around the airport with his radio in his hand... smile...because he may turn out to be a very good pilot someday.

I have a beautiful wife of 16 years who has a degree in computer programming and works for the same airline in the computer systems area. She is currently serving as a Business Systems Analyst working with our global computer network.

We are blessed with a precious, 2 year old son. My son is already quite interested in airplanes and 'cop cops', as he calls helicopters, and I hope that he too will share my love for aviation. He enjoys our local zoo and we can't wait to take him to Walt Disney World and SeaWorld (he loves animals!) to watch his face light up!

My wife, Carol, has been my support over the years, and she has helped me to obtain my goals. She is a wonderful person and means the world to me. I would like to publicly acknowledge her value to me, as her love and support through all these years have been 'the wind beneath my wings'. Without her love and support, I would not be successful.

A love of aviation...

As you can surmise, I have a true love of aviation that I am eager to share with others. I have found the aviation community to be filled with many fine professionals and good-hearted individuals.

We hope to provide you with more great aviation information in the near future.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Cap'n Rexbo

March 2004 update: We now have three children in the household!!! We have added Carly Simone, our daughter, who is now twenty months old, and Jacob Michael who is just six months old. Rex, Jr. is now five years old!!! They are all keeping us quite busy!!!

Carol and I have now been married for 20 years. My sincerest thanks go out to my beautiful wife and co-pilot for these 20 wonderful years. Carol has helped smooth out the bumps in an otherwise trecherous journey. She is a great partner to have onboard for the flight.

June 2005 update: We just returned from our annual trip to the Orlando area for our family vacation and everyone had a great time. Carly turned three while we were there!!! We got in lots of water time at the pool and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the water slide!!! We went to Sea World and everyone saw lots of neat sea animals. The shark tube was amazing and even Jake enjoyed it at his young age. Rex and Carly went up in a helicopter with 'ol dad while we in the Orlando area. Jake was not real sure about the helicopter, probably because of the noise, so he stayed on the ground with mom. But I'll bet he'll go next year!!! By the way, mom is certainly no stranger to flying, especially in helicopters...she loves 'em!!!

Virtual Aviation and Flight Simulation...

If you can't fly in the real world, try flight in the virtual world. There are several flight simulators that offer a lot of fun and training for very little cost. For example, "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 - A Century of Flight" allows you to fly anywhere in the world under any conditions that you can imagine for a purchase cost of under fifty dollars. You can also fly online with others, or practice by utilizing the ATC services of VATSIM (Virtual Air Traffic Simulation) online. This allows for a very realistic flight experience and will allow you to practice procedures that will enhance your real world flying. I find that simulated flight helps me to keep my instrument procedures polished between my real world flight activities. There are many 'freeware' add-ons to further enhance your simulation environment. Rotorcraft, fixed wing, and seaplanes are all modeled and many variations are available for download at the major download sites.

Bring down the ceiling and visibility, crank up the ice and snow, and let's shoot some approaches!!!

For a little insight into the virtual world:

Wolf Creek Aviation

For a further glimpse into the world of virtual rotorcraft operations:

Cougar Mountain Helicopters

For general information about virtual aviation, check out:

Avsim

and

Flight Sim

and

Hovercontrol

These sites offer a vast array of 'freeware' items that you can add to your flight simulator and add more fun and realism to your virtual world. You may find yourself, as I have, becoming so immersed that you begin to modify aircraft and panels, and perhaps dive off into scenery design.

You can learn more about our family on our family website:

The Jester Family Homepage

and our adoption website:

Adoption Dreams

The gift of adoption allowed us to build a wonderful family!!!

Please Email us with your comments or questions

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