Former Wildcat pursues off-court passion

Kentucky basketball players often take interesting paths after they leave Rupp Arena behind. It's been 30 years since Rob Lock wore wildcat blue.

"So much has changed here in the last 30 years. I haven't been here for many years and so I find myself driving around Lexington and getting lost," Lock said.

Lock played some basketball after Kentucky, but he didn't have a long-term career.

"Basketball always ends at some point for everybody. It did for me at 30," he said.

Instead, he pursued another passion.

"I wanted to be a commercial pilot, but being 6'10", that was out of the question. I wanted to fly and I had to figure out how I could make that happen," he said.

Lock didn't have to look far. His father owned a 1942 Boeing Stearman. It's a biplane pilots trained in for World War II.

"If you were 18 years old and you signed up for the Army Air Corps or the Navy, this is the first airplane you would have flown," Lock said. "It really is the pilot-maker,"

In 2000, Lock started Waldo Wright's Flying Service. He gives rides in several airplanes, including that Stearman. This week, he's offering rides at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky. People who flew with Lock Tuesday were excited to get their hands on the controls.

"A lot of people are afraid to fly and they face that fear and they get in this airplane and they push through that fear and they find themselves doing things in it that they never thought they could do," Lock said.

Lock will be offering rides at the museum through Sunday. For more information, visit waldowrights.com.