After the Air Force, I worked my way through graduate school by instructing and flying charters, then took a government job. I acquired a 1975 Cessna 172 late in 1975 to use for frequent trips between my Boston home office and Washington, D.C. The sticker price was about two times my annual salary then. A new 172 today costs about 10 times the starting salary of someone in similar shoes. I based the 172 at Marlboro and lived across the street.