Almost ate a glider

So there we were in the Cardinal talking to center on our IFR flight plan in VFR weather and we about 5 miles off the departure end of the westbound runway at SWF. Center called and said "numerous targets ahead... we think they may be gliders as there is a school there." Geeezz... heads up, glaring out the window. We spotted a gaggle of them below us circling Orange County (NY) airport and thought we were in the clear. I was flying from the right seat and just happened to look towards Steve (the other pilot and owner) and holy *!xx there was a big yellow towplane with a glider behind him that looked like it took up the whole side window. I yanked the plane in a right dive and held my breath. He must of taken a left turn or didn't even see us. We called center and they said they either didn't have a transponder or didn't have it on and he couldn't see them. After that we got off the airway and gave the airport a large berth. We also took deep breathes to calm our heart rates down. Moral of the story... don't trust center to keep you from a midair when you are on an IFR flight plan in VFR.
-Nina Anderson and Steve Meyerowitz

Attempted hijacking

Excerpt from my story in the book, Flying Above the Glass Ceiling:The Twin Otter had cockpit doors that exited to the outside so we didn’t have to go through the passenger cabin. This was an easy out of the airplane as one crew discovered. Hijacking was in full swing and some dude decided to hijack the Twin Otter at Kennedy … where he thought he could go with an airplane with a few hours range and an airspeed that race cars exceed, I don’t know. The crew convinced him they had to close the door between the cabin and the cockpit to taxi, and then just bailed out the front doors leaving the guy sitting in the airplane waiting for the gun-wielding airport police. Anyway, those doors leaked so I spent a good bit of the winter at ANE wearing my ski pants to fly as the cockpit always filled with snow while airborne.