Look at the situation from the business perspective. He spent most of his life on other things than the family business. All of a sudden he decides to start an MRO service from scratch. That's a low margin business, and the potential payoff is not fantastic. He does that with a huge chunk of his bank. Thin on cash, has to mortgage a few things. did he even ask DM whether DM wants to run that or not? A sure way to lose money. Seems like he had some sort of an idee fixe that he has to restore Millardair. He wasted his life on booze and baby seals (I , personally, love baby seals). All of a sudden he is so enthusiastic about aviation. Nah, just a late life regret about the wasted time, and an attempt to leave a footprint.