Today, I met one of my heroes.
In the Dallas pilot crew lounge, there is a small board in the corner of the room where the chief pilot’s secretary posts announcements (usually dead retired captains) and relevant industry news printed from the internet.
Slightly below the board is a picture of a captain, some personal notes and various pictures. I’ve read them over the years, including the semi-regular updates on what he’s up to.
Don Pierson was a DFW 767 captain, former navy pilot, with the world at his feet several years ago. Flying long-haul transcontinental flights, loving life, seeing the world with ambitions of flying international widebody aircraft until retirement.
Then one day several years ago, Don’s car lost a tire, the car rolled several times and his resulting injuries left him without the use of his legs and slightly limited use of his upper body.
Permanently.
We tend to think of our lives in terms of the bulletproof years when you’re in the 20’s and early 30’s. Play all day, play all night, nothing can go wrong. I guess reading Don’s progress after his fateful accident throughout the years always gave me pause to think about the things you really can’t plan for. I guess that’s where a lot of my fury behind the “Always try to have a ‘Plan B’ by getting a valuable education” came from.
But Don stayed in the game and is in training now to be an aircraft accident investigator. His spirits are good and we spent a little time waiting for the hotel shuttle just talking about our love of the Arizona mountain/desert region, his friends in the Dallas/Ft. Worth pilot base and things he has planned for the future.
We shook hands and I helped load Don onto the hotel shuttle and he left me with a warm invitation to give him a call in Mesa when I have some time to share some old stories. Don’s seen the best and the worst in aviation. The best physical conditions, then the trauma of tragic injury, but then the accomplishment of being self-sufficient and getting “back in the game” at the first opportunity.
I guess when things are bad, they can always be worse. However when things are terrible, there is also an opportunity for self-improvement and drive to do the best you can do given your abilities.
So now, more than ever, if I speak or reply to a young aviator with ambitions of becoming a pilot, but doesn’t see the need to form a good “Plan B” with a good college degree and tries to somehow rely on the assumption that he’ll always be able to maintain a medical and continue flying, when I scream “GET A DEGREE!”, don’t be so surprised if I’m threateningly waving a baseball bat in frustration.
Any automobile’s tire can rupture. It doesn’t matter if they’re the el cheapo variety you bought at a dusty service station outside of Gallup, NM or down at the Pirelli factory show room. How’s your tire pressure today in particular?
Any airline can fail. It doesn’t matter if you’re working for Cape Air, flying as a senior RJ captain at Skywest, or a senior 777 captain at American. How’s your management team today?
Any person’s health can fail. It doesn’t matter if you’re a former “Iron Man” champion, what is your blood pressure and cholesterol today?
You’ve learned (or will learn) that you’re absolute nuts if you fly to an airport under IFR conditions with a legal, practical and useable alternate. In my personal opinion, launching off for an aviation career without a solid “Plan B” is even worse.
Thanks for the insight, Captain Pierson.
In the Dallas pilot crew lounge, there is a small board in the corner of the room where the chief pilot’s secretary posts announcements (usually dead retired captains) and relevant industry news printed from the internet.
Slightly below the board is a picture of a captain, some personal notes and various pictures. I’ve read them over the years, including the semi-regular updates on what he’s up to.
Don Pierson was a DFW 767 captain, former navy pilot, with the world at his feet several years ago. Flying long-haul transcontinental flights, loving life, seeing the world with ambitions of flying international widebody aircraft until retirement.
Then one day several years ago, Don’s car lost a tire, the car rolled several times and his resulting injuries left him without the use of his legs and slightly limited use of his upper body.
Permanently.
We tend to think of our lives in terms of the bulletproof years when you’re in the 20’s and early 30’s. Play all day, play all night, nothing can go wrong. I guess reading Don’s progress after his fateful accident throughout the years always gave me pause to think about the things you really can’t plan for. I guess that’s where a lot of my fury behind the “Always try to have a ‘Plan B’ by getting a valuable education” came from.
But Don stayed in the game and is in training now to be an aircraft accident investigator. His spirits are good and we spent a little time waiting for the hotel shuttle just talking about our love of the Arizona mountain/desert region, his friends in the Dallas/Ft. Worth pilot base and things he has planned for the future.
We shook hands and I helped load Don onto the hotel shuttle and he left me with a warm invitation to give him a call in Mesa when I have some time to share some old stories. Don’s seen the best and the worst in aviation. The best physical conditions, then the trauma of tragic injury, but then the accomplishment of being self-sufficient and getting “back in the game” at the first opportunity.
I guess when things are bad, they can always be worse. However when things are terrible, there is also an opportunity for self-improvement and drive to do the best you can do given your abilities.
So now, more than ever, if I speak or reply to a young aviator with ambitions of becoming a pilot, but doesn’t see the need to form a good “Plan B” with a good college degree and tries to somehow rely on the assumption that he’ll always be able to maintain a medical and continue flying, when I scream “GET A DEGREE!”, don’t be so surprised if I’m threateningly waving a baseball bat in frustration.
Any automobile’s tire can rupture. It doesn’t matter if they’re the el cheapo variety you bought at a dusty service station outside of Gallup, NM or down at the Pirelli factory show room. How’s your tire pressure today in particular?
Any airline can fail. It doesn’t matter if you’re working for Cape Air, flying as a senior RJ captain at Skywest, or a senior 777 captain at American. How’s your management team today?
Any person’s health can fail. It doesn’t matter if you’re a former “Iron Man” champion, what is your blood pressure and cholesterol today?
You’ve learned (or will learn) that you’re absolute nuts if you fly to an airport under IFR conditions with a legal, practical and useable alternate. In my personal opinion, launching off for an aviation career without a solid “Plan B” is even worse.
Thanks for the insight, Captain Pierson.