Man, 80, Flies Buddies for 'Burger' Lunch

from yahoo

CLEVELAND - Going out for lunch in an era of high fuel prices has special meaning for Roger Levering. The 80-year-old retired investment banker enjoys heading to Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania or West Virginia for what his buddies call the "$100 hamburger" lunch.

Levering hops in his Beechcraft Bonanza at least twice weekly and flies a friend to one of his favorite restaurants. In Muncie, Ind., it's Vince's, which has a view of the municipal airfield and is home to the Muncie Jaycees.

Levering always has a salad, but his pals often order the house specialty burgers.

"The guys call it a $100 hamburger," said Levering, whose tab includes a tip for the waitress and fuel for the 500-plus mile round trip. "But, with the price of gas today, it's a lot more expensive."

Levering logs about 400 hours yearly in the air.

Levering got his pilot license in 1976 to alleviate the trouble of flying commercially with his wheelchair-bound wife, Marian.

The couple amassed more than four-thousand hours of flight time before Marian died in 1994 after bouts with multiple sclerosis.