Defiants have gotten quite a bit of press in the last year and CanardCast is continuing that trend as Terry interviews Vernon Asper, builder and owner of the Lycoming equipped Defiant N22VL based at KDKX in Knoxville.

I met with Vernon last October at the Hangar Hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas as part of a gathering of Defiants. He had flown N22VL in to meet with five other Defiants we cobbled together in an attempt to break the known record of seven Defiants in one location set back in the early 1990’s. At that event Vernon and I also joined a small party on a short ground excursion to the location of the Mooney Aircraft Factory location in nearby Kerville, Texas. 

Born and raised in PA, Vernon later moved to both Hawaii and to Massachusetts to attend school then on to Mississippi to serve in his career an oceanographer. He has spent more than 1300 days at sea all over the world, including 20 trips to Antarctica and dives in 3 different submersibles.

Vernon is well versed in academics holding the trifecta of a Bachelors from Messiah College of PA, a Masters from the University of Hawaii and Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Vernon’s first introduction to flight was in Hawaii in 1979 and he began taking flight lessons in MA in 1980 where he earned is private pilot license.

He pretty much only flies his Defiant except when a flight review instructor demands that he uses a school plane since his Defiant doesn’t have rudder pedals on the starboard side.

Vernon married in 1977 to Lindell who earned her license in 1984.  He has two Daughters and four granddaughters. Alicia with granddaughters Daphne and Penelope live in Belgium and Jennifer with granddaughters Maddie and Grayson who live in Knoxville, TN.

Enjoy the interview!