About this mechanic

At the age of 11, Russ Milham began hopping light aircraft rides in and around his hometown of Newport, Rhode Island.  He would jump into anything with wings that would have him - from scenic rides in the local FBO's Cessna 172 - paid for with scraped-together paper route money - to a Piper Tripacer whose fuselage was so rotted that the back door popped open on every landing.  Shortly after that he started spinning borrowed wrenches on any kind of plane that anyone would let him near - from a derelict Cherokee 140, to a pre-war Cub restoration project, to an 18 horsepower Rutan Quickie.

He completed his private license in December of 1986 while also attending the University of Lowell College of Music as a performance major.  By July 1987, he was out looking for his first flying job as a newly minted commercial pilot with an instrument rating and instrument flight instructor authorization and 210 hours of total time logged.  Along the way, he had also picked up basic, advanced, and instrument ground instructor certificates.  Shortly after landing his first job, he left music school to concentrate on making his way as a professional pilot.  For the remainder of the 1980's, Russ worked as a flight instructor around southeastern New England - though he continued to ply the barroom bandstands in order to make rent.  During those years, he added a multi-engine commercial rating to his certificate at the controls of the venerable 1957 Piper PA-23-150 Apache. 

In the early 90's, he relocated to the Adirondack region of upstate New York and was introduced to float and ski flying as well as backcountry aircraft maintenance, cargo air-dropping, jump plane flying, and banner towing.  During this time, Russ had the opportunity to hop in and out of a diverse selection of aircraft from a J-3 Cub on floats; to Cessna 185s on wheels, straight floats, amphibs, and skis; to an L-19 on wheels, floats, and retractable wheel skis; to Beech Barons; Piper Comanches; Bellanca Decathalons; Cessna Centurions; an impossibly ancient Riley 1955 Cessna 310 and 1960 Piper Aztec, and a Christen Husky.  He even got to work on the construction of an early-model fixed gear Velocity.  All this excitement was made much more precious though the opportunity to learn all these aircraft and operational environments through the patient, cheerful, and brilliant mentorship of the late Rich Mueller.

Finally, in search of a life in light aircraft that also came with a sustainable income, Russ made the leap to Alaska.  He spent 2 years flying Cessna 207s and 172s out of Bethel - 400 statute miles from both Anchorage and the nearest road.  Somewhere about this time, he earned a Multiengine Instrument Instructor Certificate in a Beech Duchess.  He left Bethel to enroll in the Aviation Maintenance Technology Program at the University of Alaska at Anchorage.  While completing his A&P, he spent his summers working as a mechanic and flying 185s on hydraulic wheel skis out of Talkeetna, Alaska; principally to and from the glaciers of Mt McKinley.

After receiving his A&P in late 1994, he spend one more season as a flying mechanic on Denali after which, he thought he would pursue a career with Northern Air Cargo; then the largest operator of DC-6 aircraft in the world.  Love and life intervened, however.  1996 found Russ and his wife to be - a native of Anchorage - relocating in their 1965 Beechcraft Musketeer to New England so that she could complete her graduate degree. 

Russ took this chance to complete a Bachelor's degree in Aviation Science with a double concentration in Aviation Business and professional piloting at Bridgewater State College - paying his way by working as an A&P for a couple of small general aviation shops around southeastern Massachusetts.   Before he knew what was happening, he had somehow sold the Beech, had competed for, and had secured a graduate fellowship at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Daytona Beach, Florida.

After two steamy years in central Florida, Russ had laid claim to an Aerospace-focused Master of Science degree in Human Factors and Systems Engineering as well as a burning desire to return to the temperate Pacific Northwest.  Since that time, his wife, his two young children, and he have resided near Seattle, Washington where he has worked as a usability engineer for a software development company based in the Redmond area.

The only thing that might make life better than it has turned out so far would be a Coot-A amphibian sitting on a trailer in the yard and a Grumman Traveler just down the road a piece at Harvey Field - both ready to go anywhere at a moment's notice.

This page last updated on 04/03/2009