was taken last Feb.2002 while
I was at home in Waikiki.
On a jungle airstrip in Southeastern Laos
near the Ho Chi Minh
trail in 1970.
Hello to the class of ‘56,
I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s contributions and it was interesting matching yearbook pictures to the autobiographies. Yes, I actually knew where my yearbook was stored.
I was in Huntington last fall for the first time in about 15 years. I was amazed by the changes, but it still looks like a pleasant place to live.
I’ve had (and am still having) great adventures with just enough adversity thrown in here and there to make me appreciate all the good times. I’ve covered a large part of the world in my travels and that may have something to do with the reason that I’ve been married and divorced twice. I have one daughter and one son from my first marriage and they are out having their own adventures.
After graduation, I worked for an airline at Idlewild Airport for a short while as a junior mechanic (un-certificated). I enlisted in the army in ‘57. I was in the aviation unit of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY so I got to work on them, fly in them and jump out of them for a while. At the end of my enlistment, I decided it was time to find another adventure. While I was looking, I lived in Huntington and worked for the same airline. Then, I was involved in a work accident that blinded me for a while. After my recovery, I decided it was time to do what I wanted – fly (and find some warmer weather and a new adventure). In 1960, I moved to California. There I went to work for Gunnell Aviation at Santa Monica airport. I started out as a line crewman in ’60 and left in ’68 as the assistant chief pilot for the flight school and chief pilot for the charter department (We were one of the largest flight operations in southern California). Always being a bit restless, I took a flying job in Laos. Another great adventure! When I came back to Los Angeles, I went back to teaching and flying charter for a few years. Then I started an aviation consulting company.
During one of my consulting projects, I met some people in the music industry. They needed a transportation service, so I added a crewing and leasing company to my other projects and spent a lot of time on the road flying entertainment groups on their concert tours. One group, Earth, Wind and Fire, became partners in my company until they retired in ’82. I bought them out and continued my own adventures. I’ve work with a multitude of government agencies on law enforcement projects. I’ve done expert witness work in court, aircraft accident investigation, run large air carriers, flown for the movies and the news media, and mostly taken on anything that presented a challenge. Looking back, that seems to be what drives me. I’ve retired a couple of times, but I’m an excitement junkie, so I’ve never stayed retired for very long. When Earth, Wind and Fire came out of retirement in ’88, I took a year off from aviation and celebrated my 50th birthday on a world tour as their Road Manager (I still work with them).
At 60, I thought I would try semi-retirement, so I went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration as an Aviation Safety Inspector. After a year, I realized I wasn’t ready to slow down quite that much yet, so I took a job on the mainland as a Chief Pilot for a jet cargo flight operation (I lived in Hawaii and commuted to LA). I was in the process of moving back to Hawaii full time when the terrorists struck. The work I had lined up there evaporated because the tourists stayed home. Fortunately, I always have options available and the one I chose was flying jets for charter. I’m currently with a company in Van Nuys, CA where I’m playing assistant chief pilot and flying all over the US. I spend a lot of time on the road, which I enjoy. We stay in great hotels, our expenses get paid, I have the best seat on the airplane (the Captain’s) and life is good. The tough part is I only get home to Hawaii about once a month (which beats not going at all!) I have two ladies in my life. One is my girlfriend in Hawaii whom I’ve been with for 4 years now and the other is my 8 year old niece. One is in Hawaii and the other is in Wisconsin, so even when I’m not working, I travel a lot. My California time is spent either on the bike path on Santa Monica beach roller-blading or teaching aerobatics out of Santa Monica Airport. I’ve just recently figured out what I want to be when I grow up – Me! Hope to make it to some of the reunions. Meanwhile, the adventure continues! Aloha!
