What It Really Takes to Escape Your Circumstances: From Small-Town Poverty to Commercial Airline Pilot

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SPEAKER_04: Have you ever had a dream so big?

It honestly kind of scared you?

If so, amazing! If not, well then let today's episode, today's interview, inspire you to start.

Donald Osborne, he was only 14 years old when his imagination took flight at the side of his neighbor's airplane.

That wild imagination, just a kid's dream, it would take flight in a very big, exciting, and sometimes thrilling way.

Inside of today's monumental 400th episode, you're gonna be witness to how that dusty Nebraska dream of just a child, how it took flight.

From flying over fields to flying across the world, Donald Osborne is proof that a dream, even so big that it scares you, can indeed come true.

You might consider today's episode a celebration for the podcast.

The 400th episode.

We're just over five years running.

And whew, baby, what a journey it's been.

But honestly, it's bigger than that.

It's bigger than just an interview.

Because today is a reminder that no matter how big your dreams are, no matter how big and scary they may be, my friend, if you have the dream, it's for a reason.

And I believe it's a reason for you to make it come true.

And the biggest thing, the most important thing that I want you to remember, it's never about where you start, but rather where you land.

My friend, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and it is my honor, my pleasure to welcome you to our 400th episode of Grit Grace and Inspiration.

What's going on, and welcome back to Grit Grace and Inspiration.

Today I have the pleasure of being in the studio with none other than Don Osborne.

Don, man, a pleasure to have you here.

Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I sure appreciate it.

I love the invite, and it's great talking to you again, Kevin.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, man.

Well, well, Don, I'm excited to get to explore your story.

Obviously, a big part of our story today is really going to be kind of following a lot of your book that you have that we're going to get to talk all about.

Today, my hope is to kind of get to explore the book kind of firsthand from you.

And obviously, I guess the most logical place for us to start today is to me ask, where did the love for flying, or maybe even before it turned into a love, the excitement, the the enthusiasm about flying, where did that even start at in your life?

SPEAKER_02: I I think some of it is one of my first memories, and I remember watching an airplane go over.

And so it probably was deep-seated, you know, from a very early age.

I grew up in a very small town in western Nebraska, Shadron, Nebraska.

And the idea of getting out of there was was a tremendous goal, you know, because it's like anything, you don't realize what you have till you're gone.

I wanted to see the rest of the world.

I wanted to see what was over the hill.

And uh, it seemed like flying airplanes was the way to do that.

And the more I got to know about airplanes, it just became my passion.

I suppose basically, first of all, I wanted to be a rock and roll star, but the talent thing kind of got in the way.

So I could I could work to be a pilot.

I'll I'll never be a better guitar player or singer, no matter how hard I work.

SPEAKER_04: So I hear you.

I hear you.

I love it.

I love it.

Now, are you from Nebraska?

Is that where you were born and raised?

SPEAKER_02: Yes, I was born in in Shadder, Nebraska.

It's right on the Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska border.

SPEAKER_04: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: About a hundred miles from anywhere.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah.

Now, that part of Nebraska, am I imagining right?

I'm I'm imagining a lot of just farmland.

SPEAKER_02: Farmland, and and one interesting thing about that part of Nebraska, it is a lot hilly, almost forest-like.

Most people that they just fly over or drive through the interstate, they don't see that part of Nebraska.

But there's areas I could take you up there, and you would think you're in Colorado if if if you didn't know better.

So oh wow.

Okay.

Okay, amazing.

SPEAKER_04: So in terms of flying goes, when did you really kind of really start exploring it?

Because I mean, I think of flying as something that you really can't start doing until you're an adult, but it started for you earlier in your teenage years, correct?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

When you read the book, you'll find out there was an uh guy that had an airplane out at the edge of town, and I used to watch that thing fly in.

Well, as soon as I see that thing, I would try to follow and see where he lands and where it, and so after a few attempts, I saw where he was landing, I saw the hangar that he's pushing it into.

I knew somehow I had to get in there and and see see that airplane, see it up close.

Being at that age and not very mature, I didn't think just to knock on his door and say, hey, I'm uh I'm I'm interested in airplanes.

Would you show me your airplane?

Which probably would have been the way to do it with hindsight.

So I broke into his hangar, basically.

I I snuck in off the side to a little hole that I pulled siding loose, and I would hang in, hang around in that hangar, just looking at the airplane, imagining what it must do, and wondering what all these things inside did.

The love of the mechanics of it, the airplane, the the idea of flying was just ingrained in me pretty deeply.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, now what what kind of airplane was this?

Or I mean, more importantly, for us who don't know anything about airplanes, like what did it look like as you as a kid looking at this airplane?

SPEAKER_02: It was a small yellow high-wing airplane, which was a tail drag, but for me, looking at it as a kid, it was the biggest, most powerful, exciting machine I'd ever seen in my life.

I'd been around tractors and you know, old cars and that type of thing at that point, but the fact that this thing had wings and a propeller on it was just horribly exciting to me.

I thought there's gotta be a way somehow I can get this thing into the sky.

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04: Now, would you ever get to the point where you actually would go as far as climbing up inside of it and sitting in the plane?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I hate to admit it because I I'm sure the statue limitations are over, but I figured out how to get the door open and climb into it, and I would move the it had a stick in the center of it, and I'd move that around, imagining I wonder what this thing does.

And and it was a very simple airplane, but I'd I'd look at these four gauges that were in there and the throttle was off to the side, and I would just wonder, I wonder what all this stuff does.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, amazing.

So I have to ask, at some point, because every story has a climax, I'm gonna imagine at some point you got caught.

SPEAKER_02: I got caught, and the guy uh came walking in the hangar, and I was engrossed and I was in the airplane, and and and I saw, well, I heard somebody coming in and I felt the door, could see the door opening.

So I I was out of that airplane through my little trapdoor that I had built and and uh jumped on my buzz bike and pedaled away as fast as I could, and he kind of ran me down, and he said, So you're that little SOB that's been breaking into my hangar.

And and I like to say that was the start of my career.

Wow.

He he turned out to be a very nice gentleman and uh kind of took me under his wing, you know, no pun intended a little bit, and and uh gave me my first old seven or eight airplane lessons and actually sold me.

SPEAKER_04: So wow.

So you have this man who catches this this little SOB who's been breaking in his barn, but he doesn't tell you to just get lost, but he then literally starts to teach you how to fly.

SPEAKER_02: Exactly, right.

And then uh I can remember it was uh twelve dollars an hour, and that included him, the airplane, the fuel, everything.

And back then, twelve dollars was a lot of money to come up with.

So if if you look in my old logbook, you can see about every seven to ten days I had a flight lesson.

And that because of that, it took me about seven to ten days to come up with that twelve dollars.

Yeah.

And uh one one funny little story is uh a common question that you get asked over and over and over in this business is what's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you in in flying?

And I like to say it was showing up for a uh flight lesson with Frank without twelve dollars.

Uh if you showed up without your twelve dollars, did you get to fly or no fly?

The first couple times he let me slide, but after he made it clear from now on you come up with that money.

SPEAKER_04: So wow, now would how at that age, this time, how would you come up with that money?

What would you do for work?

SPEAKER_02: Well, I I had a a job in my uncle's gas station, and I I still remember that paid 50 cents an hour.

And uh and uh I you would mow lawns, shovel snow, collect pot bottles, you name it.

You know, back then pot bottles were two cents a piece, and the grocery store would pay you cash when you brought them in.

Lots of odd jobs, you know, kind of anything for a buck.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's amazing.

Now, I'm kind of curious about once you actually got to go up in this plane with Frank.

I mean, it's one thing to have this idea of what it must be like, but when you actually went up that first time, do you remember like, did it meet those expectations?

Was it scary?

Did it just get you even more hyped about it?

I'm kind of curious how that went.

SPEAKER_02: Actually, I still remember what it was a surprise because in my mind, I had to imagine that flying an airplane would be like uh muscles, erratic movements, uh, like you know, flying that thing like I stole it, you know, just you know, stop to stop, hardcore, you know, just like there's a machine gun shooting out of it.

And as it turns out, you get up there and he he teaches me right off the bat, it's very light touch.

You know, you you apply pressure to this thing, you don't turn it, you don't push it, you don't steer it like a car.

And I can remember thinking, huh, that's not anything like I imagined it would be.

It's habits over 50 years.

When I drive a car, a lot of people look over at me because I've you fly a jet with two fingers usually when you're in in most cases.

So when I'm driving a car, I'll have those two fingers on the steering wheel down resting on my knee and just force a habit, you know.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, that that is absolutely amazing.

It's obviously a much more gentle type thing than you would expect.

SPEAKER_02: Exactly.

It's it's uh the idea when as an instructor, I used to tell new students a lot, I said, fly this thing like your grandmother's in the backseat there, and she's terrified of flying.

So you don't want to do anything that's gonna scare her.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah.

Oh my goodness, that's that's awesome.

Now, talk to me a little bit about your experience flying.

I mean, you were at this point, you were only 14, correct?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh I think I was very close to 15 when when he actually let me fly it by myself, which again was illegal.

You you technically need to be 16, especially nowadays.

You have to almost be in an approved school and meet lots of requirements.

And back then it was a little more lax, but it still had the 16-year rule.

SPEAKER_04: So Yeah.

How was that?

I mean, one thing going from flying with somebody, but you did flying it by yourself after not that long, that has to be somewhat terrifying.

SPEAKER_02: You know, I I don't know that I don't know the terrifying is the word.

You're so engrossed in what you're supposed to do and and how you're gonna do it.

Your mind's pretty busy, even as a young kid.

And I always like to think, and I tell students is the second time you solo might be a little more scary than the first time because you kind of know what to expect.

But again, as an instructor, most of my life I can look at these students and see, you know, some of them are nervous, some of them can't wait to get me out of the airplane, you know, others are halfway between.

So I think it's a matter of preparation.

You're you're ready to do this thing, you know, you're ready to go.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah.

Now I read one thing in the book that I would love to have you tell the story about.

Was I don't think it was real long, maybe after you started flying solo, that you snuck a buddy on board.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's I'm glad that the I'm at the stage of my career now the FA really can't come after me.

I gotta add also, it's fun being interviewed by somebody who's actually read the book.

A lot of times they're just uh you know, ad lib in it.

But yeah, the second time I ever sold an airplane, nobody really told me not to do this.

I had a feeling maybe it wasn't.

And I I put a friend of mine in the uh in the that that airplane you flew from the backseat, uh, and it was a tandem thing.

So I I put him in the backseat, and then for the first time I flew from the front just not knowing.

So that was kind of a different feeling, but but uh yeah, I took him up in the airplane, took him for a little ride.

And uh we were I was kind of messing around up there, just uh again out of sheer ignorance.

It wasn't it wasn't cockiness, it wasn't uh arrogant, it was just ignorant.

I I simply didn't know any better.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: And again, to to fly a passenger, you have to have a private license, be 17 years old, and and have nowadays, nowadays a private pilot can take up to a hundred hours to actually get his license.

The requirement is 40 hours.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah.

Now, what was kind of like the time error when at this point in your life, like what kind of year were we looking at back then?

SPEAKER_02: Well, let's see, I'm uh that would have been in the mid-70s.

I graduated high school from in 75.

So yeah, this would have been 73.

Okay.

72, 73.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean I I guess because I'm sitting here thinking, I'm like, the things we could get away with out in the middle of nowhere back in the 70s, that just probably wouldn't happen today.

SPEAKER_02: You know?

Oh, exactly.

Yeah, I I think about that a lot and all kinds of stuff.

You know, I mean, I mean, nowaday parents are so close hovering over their kids.

You know, when we were kids, we'd head out into the woods, and you know, my mom knew that I'd be back for by dinner time or at least right before it was dark.

And we would put our 22 rifles on our buzz bikes, go down to the local Western auto, buy a box of shells, 22 shells, and the guy would hand them to us and say, Going out to shoot rats at the dump.

Yep, that's where we're going.

We'd ride our bikes right down Main Street with a with the 22s, you know, strapped to the back, and nobody even so much is looked up.

SPEAKER_04: That is just awesome.

SPEAKER_02: Imagine that today.

I mean, that there would be SWAT teams.

There would.

There would, yeah, sadly enough.

Yes.

Exactly.

That's exactly right.

Sadly enough.

SPEAKER_04: Now, speaking of family, did your your parents' siblings uh did they know about this whole flying endeavor that you were doing?

SPEAKER_02: I was raised by a single parent.

My mom raised uh four of us.

And uh we were pretty much a poverty type situation.

So, you know, we never went hungry, thanks to my mom.

We'd work several jobs, but we didn't have much extra money at all.

And so I I didn't really want my mom to know that I was you know, she she asked several times, what do you do with all that money you're making?

Because she knew I was working hard and and I'd just say, I'm saving it, I'm saving it up.

So uh she found out, you know, obviously, oh, probably after I had my private license that I was flying.

And and uh she was pretty much a homebody, would have been a perfect farm lady, and didn't really have much interest in anything like that.

So her idea was work, you know.

What was important to her is how much work you were doing right now today, you know, how much work you did yesterday or what you might do tomorrow didn't matter to it.

How hard are you working right now, you know?

You know, gardening, shoveling, building, that was all acceptable pastimes in her mind.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah.

So I guess would would you say that you get your worth ethic from your mom?

SPEAKER_02: Definitely, yeah.

My that was her life.

My mom worked and she solved most of her issues by working harder than she did the day before.

SPEAKER_04: So wow, wow, that's amazing.

So to flying, I mean, you you're a teenage boy.

Did you think that this would ever turn into a career path?

SPEAKER_02: I I never never really wanted to do anything else.

And so I I didn't know how it was gonna happen, and I didn't really have any guidance, but uh yeah, I always imagined I'd be in a big airplane flying across the ocean someday.

And and you know that that came to happen.

So wow.

SPEAKER_04: No, so I guess I would love to hear what is the story?

How do you go from this this teenage boy flying the the neighbor's plane to actually becoming a commercial pilot?

SPEAKER_02: Back then, a lot of it was luck, a lot of it was on your own.

You uh you have to get licenses.

I was lucky enough to get my flight instructor's license uh right before I started college.

So so through college, I was able to flight instruct quite a bit, build some hours, and actually fly some charter.

And so by the time I was out of college, I had enough hours that uh a flight school in Phoenix looked at me seriously enough to hire me.

So and then from there it was very turbulent times in in the airlines.

Airlines were going out of business, corporations were going out of business.

So a lot of my career was just trying to keep a job.

Now, to contrast that today, I mean, there's a huge pilot shortage, and somebody wanting to be a pilot today.

There are thousands of programs, universities, airlines willing to take them in as a a student or a a possible, just they're willing to invest in people nowadays to get them into that cockpit and make a pilot out of them, which is wonderful for all those people.

I uh sometimes have some envy or jealousy.

I wish something like that was back when I was a kid, but Purdue University was the only college in the United States that had an aviation program and it was incredibly expensive.

As compared to today, I don't know that you could walk into a community college anywhere and not see some type of an aviation program available.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.

Wow.

Now, during that time, what was going on in the world that made the airline industry like it so difficult?

SPEAKER_02: Well, it was it was the 80s, so you know, I guess the oil business would be a good example.

You know, they strike oil somewhere, everybody's multi-millionaires overnight, and that's the next thing they're out buying jets, and you know, two days later it all collapses, and after a few days, these executives they would think, hey, I know we could sell those airplanes.

You know, that that'll make us some money.

Of course, a few days after they sell the airplanes, they think, oh, now we can hire the, now we can fire the pilots.

But you know, airlines was go were going through deregulations, things were changing, and it was just some airlines were trying to get, you know, add more things and they'd forget they were in the airline business.

They, you know, they would be rent a cars and hotels and touring packages, and and and then the airline part of it would kind of you know go by the wayside.

And then uh I guess the nicest way to say with with airlines and even corporations is mismanagement.

Most people up there in the top floor, they don't have a clue what an airplane is, how much it costs, how to operate it.

And they buy it uh even airlines sometimes.

They'll they'll buy a hundred airplanes without a whole lot of research.

You know, oh, this company gave us the best deal, let's buy their airplanes.

We're we're at a stage now where technology has kind of solved that for a lot of people.

They can do computer setups, they can do, you know, what kind of task are you gonna do with this airplane?

What's your mission statement?

And so plus, it's just it's become a lot more common.

I mean, when I first started flying, people showed up to the airport wearing their best Sunday clothes and and you know, very respectful, very happy that the idea they were gonna get on an airplane.

Sometimes they they'd walk out of the door, across the ramp, right on into the airplane, no security or you know, as compared to what we see today.

So it's it's changed.

It's changed an awful lot.

9 11 had a lot to do with how people perceive flying and how they actually can get from their car to an airplane.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, very fascinating.

Now, were you still a commercial pilot?

You mentioned 9 11.

During that time?

SPEAKER_02: Yes, I was uh on that day I was in Omaha getting ready to commute to work.

And uh that month I was doing uh Boston Chicago, and our gate was next door to the American gate that took the terrorists out.

Wow.

That's you know, there's a lot aviation's a very small community.

I personally don't know anybody that was, you know, died in 9-11, but I know a lot of people who know a lot of people.

So it's just a very small community.

So it's funny when you hear the rumors, you know, it's like, well, I I know that's not true because I would know about it.

You know, it's it's too small a community to hide something.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

So I guess I'm kind of curious through your career, I mean, what are the different maybe airlines you worked with, airplanes that you've flown?

I mean, because obviously you have an extensive career, and I would love to kind of hear what all your career involves.

SPEAKER_02: In a way, that's that's an easy answer, and maybe it's a hard answer too.

Uh, if you want to do some research and find out what 25 airlines went out of business during the 80s and early 90s, there's a good chance I flew for a lot of them.

I uh I flew for a lot of airlines that went out of business.

Uh, corporations, and when an airline goes out of business, you try to find a corporate job.

So same thing, the the corporations come and go with their aviation departments.

It was very unstable compared to what it is today.

The I I started out flying for Braniff.

And you have to be fairly old, even remember Braniff.

But but at the time I went to work for Braniff, it was like winning the lottery.

I mean, it was one of the best airlines you could work for, the highest paid.

I remember the chief pilot came in and said something effect the first day, congratulations, you're all millionaires.

And uh seven months later, I'm on the street looking for another job.

So Wow.

Wow.

So I I tell people I did not have a stellar career, but I had one of the most interesting careers of anybody I know about.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah.

Well, well, talk to me about some of the highlights of your career.

SPEAKER_02: I talk about in the book of what it felt like to be in full uniform, walking through that terminal, down the jetway, and into the into my seat in the airline.

You know, it's it's like I'd worked my entire life to get there.

And here I am in a in a in a brand new airline uniform, walking down the jetway to get into that co-pilot seat.

You know, that that was definitely a highlight.

So I guess it would go all the way then to highlight now is I'm getting very close to retiring.

I I fly a private jet for a guy now.

It's just his personal jet, and I fly it for him, and I'm getting the point where, you know, I'm gonna have a lot of spare time.

I'm gonna have time to spend with my grandkids and and pursue other hobbies, do other things.

And so in a way, that's a highlight that I've made it through this maze, and here I am.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I love it.

Now, you you've spoken a lot about kind of the ups and downs of the airline industry as far as when you're working, when you're not, picking up other odd jobs and such.

And there was one little story in your book that I would love for you to share because I thought it was absolutely hysterical.

Was when one of your tree trimming customers recognized you at the airport.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that I uh I had a tree business for many years, and it was to supplement the airline world because you know, when an airline goes out of business, you just see the panic in people's eyes.

And I thought, you know, I needed to find, I need to find something that when when I am thrown out on the street, uh I have something to do that next morning.

Because in fact, that's some advice I give people now.

I tell them, uh, you know, when you find yourself unemployed, go out and get another job, you know, and then worry about your career.

Don't just, you know, sit around and mope.

And really, in life, generally, anything that happens, you know, go out and find something to make you feel decent about yourself.

But so I had a tree business.

I I worked in the tree world and in high school and college with a good friend of mine out in Chadner, Nebraska.

So I had a general idea of what the business was like.

It took off pretty well.

So I had a good customer and he uh oh about a three-week job.

And so I'd work for a few days and go out and do my flying, come back, work, and just like just an employee customer type relationship, I'd talk to him a little bit, and we just got to where we kind of knew each other and we'd talk a few minutes before the job or after the job.

Well, one day I'm in full uniform getting ready to fly in Chicago, and I look and I could see this guy staring at me, and uh, I realized who he was right off the bat.

So he finally came up and said, Excuse me, Captain, do I know you?

And I said, Yes, you do.

I'm your tree man.

I I still remember his words.

He said, By God, you are, aren't you?

And so of course he won, he says, What explain this?

Why are you here dressed that way?

And I told him that uh I said, well, to keep the tree business going, I have to find odd jobs to do in the meantime.

SPEAKER_04: I supplement the tree business with with with being the airline pilot.

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness, that is hysterical.

And then I I finished up his work and everything, and he always it's it's funny.

He he treated me like like he treated me much higher up the chain than he would have just known I was a tree manual.

SPEAKER_04: So wow, that that yeah, I thought that was a hysterical story in the book, and I guess that's where kind of segueing in.

We we keep talking about the book.

So let's actually talk about the book.

How did the book even come about?

And I guess in that the end with that question, is what made you decide that you wanted to write this book?

SPEAKER_02: I I have always considered myself a writer, whether it was lyrics or or books or and uh and so it's always been kind of a a side hobby.

And uh so I I started out, I was writing an expose on the airline industry, and I was fairly deep into the book.

And I called my sister, I said, I'm gonna need help with this book I'm writing.

Would you help me?

Of course, she was busy with her life and her kids, and and uh, and uh she was homeschooling and and you know being a wife and mother and and just as busy as she could be.

And she almost thought, Oh my god, do you realize how busy I am?

I said, Yeah, but what do you think about doing this?

So she said, Well, send me what you have.

And so I sent her the first few chapters and she read it and came back and said, you know, I don't think people are interested in hearing about this.

And and I said, Yeah, and I attribute it to sausage.

You know, people love sausage, but they don't necessarily want to hear about how it's made.

That's true.

So what she did say is she said, I see a very interesting memoir here, not an expose.

I said, Well, let me go back and think about that.

And so I I kind of changed, I I left some of the stories in there, but I kind of changed it more towards toward me than the airline world.

And uh, so we got about, oh, what probably 30,000 words, maybe.

And I'm thinking, gosh, this this is gonna be good.

And she said, No, we it's gotta be almost twice this size.

You know, there's gotta be a whole lot more if we're really gonna make this thing go.

And I remember telling her, God, I don't even like me well enough to come up with that much more.

And so, so uh I I would write something, and and what what her talent is, she's incredibly talented making, you know, one word flow into the next word, one sentence flow into the next sentence, the paragraphs flow.

And so I would send her my version of the stories, and and she would just make it very easy to read and just enjoyable to read.

And sometimes she'd call up and say, now is this is this a typo or is this an airplane thing?

I I don't know what you're saying.

We've had a lot of fun doing that.

And uh so as it turns out, it it wasn't a matter of of writing enough when when it came ready to you know to publish or to have the final rewrite, we had to take out a lot.

And it was, you know, the hard part wasn't how we're gonna get enough.

The really difficult part was what are we gonna take out of this book?

And in fact, a good friend of mine who also ended up being an airline pilot, and I lived with him in college, I had a whole three, four paragraphs about him, and and somebody, uh one of the editor type people said, We're gonna take him out of here.

He's just not interesting enough.

So when I when I saw him and talked to him about it, I had to tell him the story.

The reason you're not in is because the editors thought you were boring.

In true form, he said, Yeah, I guess I am boring.

Oh wow.

In a way, it became a just a tremendous, enjoyable, satisfying thing to do is write this.

And we have a brand new project.

I hope it's released early spring, and it's a series of short stories, and a lot of it's stuff that didn't fit into this book.

And a lot of the real funny things, I think, is the that maybe weren't quite acceptable for this book.

It's it is gonna be in the next one.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I love it.

Now, the name of the memoir, what is remind us of the name?

SPEAKER_02: It's uh Where We Land.

It's uh Pilot's Reflection at Altitude.

SPEAKER_04: Hmm.

Where did you guys come up with that title?

SPEAKER_02: Where we land?

Uh well, nobody liked flying sausage, so I had a lot of comments on that.

And my myself, Annie, my sister, and uh my niece, who actually helped edit it, all the three of us bounced name after name around, and nothing seemed to just sound right, you know.

And then uh I can't remember, it was probably a combination all three of somebody said, you know, it's the the book talks about it's not really where you take off from, it's where you land.

That that's the whole general idea of this book, is is you don't have to start at a certain place, but you do have to it it what's important is where you land.

And that's then it popped in.

That's the name of the book, where we land.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, now do you already have an idea for the title of the second book that you talked about?

SPEAKER_02: We do, and uh, it's already been uh kind of released a little bit.

It's gonna be called the Ding Dong Alder Boy.

Okay, very different.

Yeah, it it's in a way it's similar because it's about a bunch of rowdy kids growing up in western Nebraska and kind of the path some of us taken, and it it comes into some modern stuff that happens just recently.

And a lot of this book was fun for me because I recorded a lot of it, and then Annie would type it before I wrote most of it.

And for some reason, we just got into this thing where I would tell her the story and then she would write it down, then she'd send it back to me and I'd read it and actually laugh.

I'd say we got some here because you're making me laugh with my story.

So that's we really felt that we uh we had something going just a couple days ago, we were approached boys by some people about doing a children's book on where we land.

Oh, wow.

And so we we don't know how far where that's gonna go, but I think that sounds like a blast.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it does.

And and I mean, I can tell anybody intrigued about the book that even just the first few chapters of the book, it almost has that almost like that field of dreams type feel to it.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.

I like that.

I I haven't heard that exact description, but I I Joe, I like it.

Like good job.

SPEAKER_04: It is.

I mean, it literally, you know, the the movie, you know, you have Kevin Coster, you know, sees the field and sees the you, it was that first little plane with Fra.

And that was your own field of dreams.

I thought it's just it's such a captivating read.

It's an easy read, and it's just it's truly entertaining.

As I actually told your sister in an email, I said, I literally felt like a little kid staring at the TV screen like his chin on his hands, just two inches away from the TV.

So enthralled in the show.

I'm like, that's how I felt while reading.

SPEAKER_02: What a great day.

You're you're making me feel great.

I just I really appreciate that because it's wonderful to get the feedback.

SPEAKER_04: Of course, of course.

No, I think it's amazing.

Now, where is the best place for us to send somebody who would love to read the book?

SPEAKER_02: Uh the book's available on uh Amazon, and I found out just the other day I'm Amazonable, meaning you can type in Donald Osborne and the book comes up.

But if you type up Where We Land in Amazon, it comes up, and it's available in Barnes and Noble, and it's about any bookstore you can go in and they can order it for you.

SPEAKER_04: Okay, that's amazing.

Well, well, Don, I guess my last question I would love to kind of ask you today is tied directly back to the book and the person listening today is what is the thing that you really hope that somebody who reads this book, what do you hope that they take away from it?

SPEAKER_02: I really like that question.

If if you're a pilot, I hope you laugh and enjoy it.

If you're somebody thinking about becoming a pilot, I hope that it's required reading someday.

And then uh and if you're somebody that rides on an airline now and then and you kind of wonder what's going on behind that locked door or even underneath the uh terminal, I think this book will, especially nowadays where there's so much anxiety about flying and the the media push on it, it this might relax you a little bit and let you uh maybe enjoy the flight a little bit more.

But the final and most thing important to me about if somebody reads this book and it makes them laugh and cry, I've had that comment before, and that that was really made me happy that as an author, I can invoke emotions that can make somebody laugh and cry.

But with all that being said, I would hope that somebody would read this book and think, God, if somebody like that can do it, I certainly can too.

SPEAKER_04: Yes.

I love it, man.

Well, well, Dawn, man, it has been an absolute pleasure getting to meet you to get to hear your story.

Um, thank you so much for for being here and be willing to to share a little piece of your story with me and my listeners.

It means the world to me.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_02: Well, I really appreciate your time.

I appreciate the invite, and I I hope to uh continue this.

I'd like to uh meet you in person someday.

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04: We will be sure that happens.

And for you listening today, oh man, I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation as much as I have.

Hopefully, you're geared up, you're ready to go out and check out today's show notes where I will leave a link to Don's book where you can stay in touch with him, especially on that future book release.

And highly encourage you to go read the book yourself.

It is truly one of a kind.

And I'm telling you, if you enjoyed today's interview, well, then the book is just gonna take it to the next level.

So, with that, my friend, I encourage you to get out there and enjoy the day.

Go pick up a copy of Don's book, and uh hey, most of all, just get out there and enjoy the day.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and this is Grit Grace and Inspiration.

SPEAKER_01: I got Grit Grace and Inspiration on my mind.