While the Velocity was being meticulously assembled and refined, our partnership took to the skies in another remarkable machine. Paul Lasen's Bonanza Debonair, sporting a brand new engine and propeller, served as our flying classroom and escape pod. These cross-country flights across the Texas landscape became the foundation of a profound aviation mentorship.
The Discipline of the Sky
Flying with a man who completed more than a hundred combat missions in Vietnam changes how you view a checklist. Paul approached every preflight inspection with a quiet, calm discipline that was contagious. He taught that safety wasn't about fear, but about respect for the physics of flight and the machine beneath you.
A Friendship Forged in the Air
Beyond the technical flight hours, those journeys in the Debonair were filled with laughter, golf stories, and wisdom that only nine decades of an extraordinary life could yield. The lessons learned thousands of feet above the Texas plains shaped the way we finished N495DV, transforming a complex build into a lasting monument to a great man.