We Figured It Was Time We Introduced you To Tom Patton (Yeah, God Help Him, We're Going To Keep Him)

For a number of months, ANN readers, listeners and viewers have had the advantage of benefitting from the efforts of ANN's News editor, Tom Patton... a guy who we were fairly sure was going to do really well here -- and now a few months later, we're sure of it (we're kinda careful about such things... we're HARD on the help). Tom brings all the things we really needed here.... a strong passion for aviation, a solid background in real journalism and the willingness to embrace the new media evolution with expertise, insight and enthusiasm. So, that being said, let's let Tom introduce himself...

Tom Patton... In His Own Words

These things are always awkward. But at any rate, Hello. Jim has asked me to introduce myself to you, and I'm happy to do so. My name is Tom Patton, and I'm ANN's News Editor.

I've come to ANN via a very roundabout route. I've been a broadcaster for more than 30 years in radio, television, and cable. Most of my work has been at radio stations, from the Midwest to California and then Florida. Along the way, I did a stint at the Voice of America, then at C-SPAN in Washington. More recently, I've been news director at Georgia Public Radio, and later the news director and FM Station Manager at WJCT-FM here in Jacksonville, Florida, where I also hosted a weekly public affairs radio and television program. My duties also included moderating panel discussions and political debates. I've also written for 904 magazine, two blogs, and have recently embarked on a new weekly radio project. I guess you could say multimedia has become my niche.

But ANN is about flying, and I'm passionate about that as well, though that passion has of necessity been smoldering for several years. My first time in an airplane was in the right front seat of a Cherokee 6 that the pilot, with very little warning, stood on its wing and dropped into the Grand Canyon. I was 6, and these 44 years later, I can still see it vividly. I took my first ground school course when I was just 15 … and didn't pass the written that first time. I finally got my license was 18, trading a job at the local airport for my flying lessons. It gave a remarkable opportunity to just hang out at the airport, learn about the many different airplanes that came and went, because I was the ramp rat pumping the gas. And on days when the Indiana weather wasn't all that great for flying, I got to hear the stories of the guys who came to Grissom Memorial just to pass the time.

One or two of them might have been embellished just a bit.

Writing for ANN will give me an opportunity to re-connect with flying (where he's already done a helluva good job in the right seat of our SR-22 G3 Turbo -- Jim Campbell, E-I-C). I know that some of you have already caught some of my mistakes as I've been in the process of what Jim calls "drinking from the fire hose", and I've learned from each one. At least I know my efforts are being read, and that will keep a writer, journalist, and editor on his toes. I look forward to meeting some of you along the way, and I look forward to renewing my passion for flying. It's a bit like finding that old girlfriend on Facebook, and finding out you're both available.

Who knows where it might lead?

FMI: www.aero-news.net