Looking Forward to the 100th Anniversary
Capt. David Sperry (Hawaiian)
Capt. David Sperry (Hawaiian) and his son together in flight in 2016.
My father learned to fly at the Boeing School of Aeronautics in the mid-1930s as a result of winning an essay contest the school sponsored. He dropped out of the University of California Berkeley and learned to fly at the school in Oakland, Calif. He was hired by United Airlines in 1937. After a career that spanned Boeing aircraft from the B-247 to the B-747 and Douglas from the DC-3 to the DC-8, he retired in 1973. I was 12 years old at the time, and my dad spent many hours in retirement taking me in our Cessna around Oregon, where I learned to love flying.
My parents never pushed me into flying; but after graduating from college, the flying bug hit hard. After the usual instructor/commuter pilot route, I’m now flying as an A330 captain and check airman for Hawaiian Airlines. I’m also working occasionally as an instructor for my local flying club near Seattle, Wash., so that I can enjoy flying both the big and small end of the flying spectrum.
And so it continues: In February 2017, my family and I spent my son’s mid-winter break doing a college tour looking at aviation universities. My wife and I have never pushed our son into aviation, but just like me he seems to have a passion for flying. I don’t know if it’s genetic, but I would bet that on the 100th anniversary of my father’s first solo in September 1935, my son will still be carrying on a family legacy driven by a passion for, and enjoyment of, flying.
