RAVENNA — Pilots often refer to their innate skills in the cockpit as “seat-of-the-pants flying.” Nancy German is a local business owner who sews the seats for airplanes and wonders if she might be a 21st century dinosaur.

TIFFIN — Brad Newman married Dwight Knepper’s daughter, and he figured he would help the Knepper’s out with odd jobs around the airport. Now Brad runs it, and Dwight gets to supervise. Flight training, a charter service, top-notch maintenance and propeller shops have helped transform the small airport and attract a steady flow of business into Seneca County.

TIFFIN, Oh. – It takes skill, dedication, unyelding resourcefulness and a sense of humor to keep general aviation’s 50-year old fleet of airplanes flying safely year after year. Meet three sharp sticks on a team of amazing mechanical men, Tom Schulze, Frank Sabo and Tom McGuire of Tiffinaire at Seneca County Airport.

David Hirt recalls his first flight to Oshkosh in a twin-engine Beechcraft with a persnickety starter. Nothing a hammer and a pocket knife couldn’t fix. But would they ever actually get there?