ANN Veteran Juan Jimenez Steps Up

After a few disappointments in upgrading our editorial profile, ANN is settling into a solid schedule thanks to a few of our veterans. ANN owes a lot to the great work done by Juan Jimenez -- even if it has almost killed him once or twice... and now he's been drafted to take over Weekend Editor duties as former Weekender Pete Combs gets the workweek hot seat.

The (self-described) 'crazy Puertorican' in the picture has been flying or fixing things in airplanes since 1974, and currently owns a BD-5J Microjet built in Australia and now being prepared for the airworthiness inspection.  He has flown a variety of aircraft, including Grumman trainers, Cessna singles and twins, Mooney's, Aeronca's, Citabrias and even a Stinson 108 experimental in Argentina, on a day where airports were categorized by how many dogs and cats came out to greet you after landing.

He served in the US Marine Corps from 1978 to 1982 as a line avionics and electrical systems technician, and worked on CH-46A/E/F's, CH-53D's, U-11's, T-39's and C-9B's in the Station Operations and Engineering Squadron at MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina, and in HMM-161 at the now-defunct MCAS(H) Tustin in California.

He is married to a beautiful Argentinian artist, Liliana Folta, and has one 13-year-old son, Gustavo. He has (barely) survived writing for ANN for four years, so now he gets to buy the booze each night after covering the airshows. If you see him during the shows and have a story to tell or new product to talk about, flag him down, he's always looking for something cool to write about.

FMI: Contact Juan