AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018 - 14

LETTERS

FROM OUR FEBRUARY 2018 ISSUE

All in the family
Pilots who have passed down flying for generations shared their stories after reading
Julie Summers Walker's story on flying as a family tradition.
I want to be among the throng of
flying family members who will,
no doubt, write "Well done!" for
the article "Flying Families." On
behalf of my father, the late Carl
G. Jordan, a retired American
Airlines captain who soloed
in August 1927 (in a Curtiss
Jenny); myself, Carl B. Jordan,
a retired United Airlines captain who soloed in June 1949;
and my daughter, Catherine
A. Jordan, a retired Southwest
Airlines captain who soloed in
August 1977, thank you for an
awe-inspiring look at miraculous flying families.
Carl B. Jordan
AOPA 664957
Port Charlotte, Florida

I just read Julie Summers
Walker's "Flying Families," and
know I missed a great opportunity to contribute, to honor
my father and my son. My dad,
Edward Sarkisian, served as a
great mentor for me, ultimately
leading me to a career in aviation. The same influences
carried over to my son.
My father worked at the
Little Ferry Seaplane Base, a few
miles east of Teterboro Airport,
as a teenager during the 1930s.

FLYING
FAMILIES
Generations of pilots who grew from one passion

WHO INSPIRED YOU TO FLY? Did you always
look skyward and think I want to be there? Or,
like so many, did you grow up listening to the
stories of your father, grandfather, mother,
aunt, or grandmother talk of their joy of flying? Of their time in the air during World War
II, or returning home to get into the sky as a
civilian, or their joy at watching airshows and
pride in America's military might? Or did your
parents and grandparents grow up in an area
where little airplanes were the workhorses
and helpmates in farmland and field? Maybe
they donned the uniform of a major airline?
You grew up in an airplane family. And
although not all your siblings followed suit,
you did. You sat on your father's knee and held
the controls, you navigated from the right seat
while your mom sat in the left, and you competed with your brother to get your certificate
first. You're from a flying family.

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 59

Nice article on multiple generations flying.
I am the third in my family: me, my dad, and
my grandfather. We have flown into Sun 'n
Fun, Oshkosh, and across the United States.
Great times!

Chris Thomas
AOPA 1130248
Virginia Beach, Virginia

He worked on the new Cub seaplanes. He enlisted in the U.S.
Marine Corps in October 1939,
which ended the flying for him,
at least for several decades. He
served on the aircraft carrier USS

How many U.S. states have you visited
via general aviation aircraft?
1-10

36%

11-25

37%

26-50

27%

Aviation eBrief poll

14 | AOPA PILOT April 2018

Edward Sarkisian
AOPA 1163933
Wyckoff, New Jersey

B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R
I L LU S T R AT I O N B Y N E I L W E B B

58 | AOPA PILOT February 2018

27%
36%
37%

of Newark, for the following day
but decided to take the opportunity to drive Daniel to school
instead. I dropped off our son at
school at 8:15 a.m. on September
11; the Newark flight I almost
picked up was ultimately
hijacked over Pennsylvania:
United Flight 93.

Yorktown (CV-10) as a gunner in
the Pacific during World War II.
My first flight in 1974 was a
$5 seaplane intro flight, out of
the Little Ferry Seaplane Base.
My dad flew with me in light
twins during night cargo out of
Teterboro Airport during the
early 1980s. I ultimately flew for
United Airlines. My son, Daniel,
acquired his private pilot certificate in 2012 while still in high
school. He continues now in
naval aviation, currently training in Texas.
On September 10, 2001, I
considered picking up a trip out

State pride

What a fun article from in the
February issue ("What's Your
State Aircraft?"). My addition
for New York and its Grumman
Cats would be the Grumman Ag
Cat (G-164). Several thousand
were built in Elmira, New York.
Dennis Hauser
AOPA 398291
Etters, Pennsylvania

I respectfully disagree with your
editors' selection for Alabama's
state aircraft. While the Saturn
V is an impressive candidate, I
would submit the Army UH-1
Huey. For close to 50 years, tens
of thousands of our nation's
finest honed their pilot skills
flying the Huey at Fort Rucker,
Alabama. Since the early 1960s,
the distinctive sound of the Huey
has been heard in the Alabama
skies and all over our nation.
Jack A. Holmes
AOPA 7440502
Fort Rucker, Alabama

I normally agree with the
thoughts expressed in AOPA
Pilot, but the suggestion that the
Wright Flyer be North Carolina's
state aircraft has me semisteamed. The Wright Flyer was

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2018

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