Getting to Know Dan Gase

At age 8, Dan went to the Crawford County Fair in Meadville, PA and sat in a Piper Cherokee. He was hooked. Ten years later, at age 18, he was the owner of a PPL. As a member of the Explorers, he would go out to the Coast Guard base for weekly ground school, then fly a C-150 and J-3 Cub that were owned by two of the USCG pilots…and for just $8.00/hour. At age 10, he went with his parents on a trip to the World’s Fair in Los Angeles. They took him up to the roof of the hotel where they were staying and surprised him with a helicopter ride off the roof of the hotel and a tour of LA. He presently holds a helicopter rating. Using his GI bill, he also has ratings in Commercial, Instrument and Multi-engine planes. The first plane he owned was as a partner in a 1980 Turbo Saratoga. He is currently a partner in N172BE, a beautiful C-172. He has logged time in about 30 airplanes, including a Pilatus PC-12 and T-34 and Robinson R-22, R-44 and R-66 rotorcraft.

Dan was born in Cleveland and moved to Pennsylvania. In 1967, when he was thirteen, the family moved to Port Angeles. His father opened up a real estate agency and Dan joined him when he graduated from high school. He attended Peninsula Community College and Arizona State University.

His working career began as a “Kool-Aid stand proprietor at age six, a residential landscaping modification specialist (I mowed lawns) and then as a mobile newspaper distributer (paper boy on a bike). During high school, I worked as an apprentice baker at the Lincoln Street Safeway. I actually went a full year without eating a donut after the initial over indulgence.”

He was in the US Air Force for four years and worked as a maintenance technician/crew chief on the F-111A and F-111F fighters.

He owned NW Appraisal Service, a company in Forks, for a couple years. He was president and co-owner of Coldwell Banker Uptown Realty in Port Angeles and Sequim and worked as a real estate broker for 30 years. When available during a six year time period, he worked on a variety of Personal/Executive Protection details for various companies, individuals and government entities.

One exciting week included being with Bill Gates on Tuesday, the President of China on Thursday and the Seahawks on the week-end. He even spent one day with Bruce Springsteen and got a free signed copy of his new book.

He began working at the Port of Port Angeles in May 2017, the first year as manager of the real estate department and the past three years as the airport manager for CLM and Sekiu airports. In his words, “I was the only one who held up my hand when they asked ‘Who wants to be an airport manager?’” Over the years he has been involved in volunteer work: president of the Realtors Association, Port Angeles Kiwanis Club, member of the Port Angeles City Council, and current board member of the Washington Airport Management Association.

He and his wife, Cynthia love to travel and have visited over 25 countries around the world, including Africa, Egypt, Europe, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, South America and the Bahamas. In Africa they were accompanied by armed guards because of the animals and in Egypt they were accompanied by armed guards because of the terrorists.

He enjoys photography, especially airplane/airport photos. He loves music and played keyboard in his church’s contemporary choir for 30 years. “I used to blow a pretty mean trumpet back in the day.” Cooking was a favorite pastime but has grown to be major activity the last couple of years. “With much modesty I’d claim my pastas, seafood and steaks on the grill are outstanding with unreachable levels of sensory satisfaction!”

His bucket list includes losing 30 pounds and getting back into shape after sitting at his desk for the last 14 months and fixing an excess amount of pasta (see above). He and Cynthia would also like to spend a couple months in Hawaii and also visit the Maldives. He also hopes to get a seaplane and glider rating some day.

When asked about any exciting experiences he’d like to share, he offered the following: “One exciting time I was flying a Piper Seneca from Moses Lake to Port Angeles. I had three guys with me who had just finished their firefighting recurrent training. We had a landing gear malfunction on final with no gear movement when the handle was positioned ‘down.’ First thing that crossed my mind was to circle around long enough for the guys to put on their asbestos suits so they would be ready to save me if we crashed.” Obviously they did not crash.

Asked if he has any philosophical thoughts or instruction for EAA members, he suggested the following: “If you have a problem and can do something about it, then do it. If you can’t do something about it, stop worrying about it.”

“A lot of people did not know I sometimes went to work dressed like this”