Pilot George

Between my two tours of duty in the Navy I took advantage of the GI Bill and learned to fly an airplane. During a period of about ten years I logged several thousand hours of flight time as a pilot — it was one of my great passions at the time. I have two or three tales that are somewhat unusual with regard to my flying experiences.

All of my friends knew I enjoyed flying and that I would use just about any excuse to take passengers on a charter flight. This picture was taken by the fellow who hired me to fly him over northern California and the Sierra Nevada Mountains so he could take aerial photographs. As long as we were in the area I suggested we land at the Lake Tahoe airport, which was within walking distance of the casinos. We had a nice lunch, put a few nickels into the slot machines, and left.

In those days the airport at Lake Tahoe, Nevada was just a fairly large hay field, and because of its elevation — about 6,000 feet — it was considered somewhat dangerous to use. Many pilots crashed trying to land or take off there. Another complication was that it was what is known as a one-way airport, meaning a pilot could only land or take off in one direction regardless of the wind's direction or strength. Any pilot will understand the difficulty that presents. The reason for the restriction was a mountain sitting squarely at one end of the runway. The present airport was later built at a different location, allowing all aircraft including jet airliners to operate in a normal manner.

I held a commercial pilot's license with an instrument rating when this photo was taken. I was about 22 or 23 years old and still single at the time. Later I flew my wife Laura many times to various destinations, and I flew both of my parents as well. I never did take my son Mike or my daughter Mary Ellen for an airplane ride though — by the time they were old enough not to have been frightened, I had already quit flying.

I hope to write up a few more of my flying stories here one of these days.