Sam Davies Shares His Local History

and the history of Big Andy airstrip west of Port Angeles at the EAA 430 Gathering on May 28, 2022.

I grew up in an aviation household. My father was an air traffic controller and general aviation pilot and I saw a lot of the USA and Canada at an early age. We lived in Billings, Montana, and my father was very active in the aviation community. He did flight instruction, charter flying, and owned a Link Trainer (1940’s era simulator) in which he provided instrument instruction. I’ve been told my first airplane ride was at the age of 6 weeks, but I don’t remember it for some reason.

At the age of 14 my parents and I moved to Oregon where my father became the first chief of the Troutdale tower east of Portland. It was at the Troutdale airport that I soloed a C-150 in July 1963 when I was 16. I flew about 30 hours that summer, but when school started up again, I was more excited about cars and girls.

I worked for the Boeing Company in 1966 and received my Private Pilot certificate in September of that year. The airlines were hiring a lot of pilots that year, but since I was only 19, I had to wait a couple of years. By the time I was 21, the airlines were not hiring as many, and since I didn’t have a college degree, I was at the back of the line. I continued flying as many hours as I could afford, and in 1969, I became a flight instructor at the Hillsboro airport west of Portland.

By this time I had my Commercial, Instrument, and Multi-engine ratings.

In December 1969, I was hired by the FAA as an air traffic controller at the Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center (Sea ARTCC) located in Auburn, WA. In 1973, I transferred to the Portland Tower and TRACON and spent 2+ years there before returning to Seattle Center in 1975.

I was fired by President Reagan on August 5, 1981 during the PATCO air traffic controller strike. I then started a business building, selling, and servicing ultralight aircraft. Ultralights were becoming very popular, and in 1982 and 1983 there were more ultralight aircraft sold than Cessna, Piper and Beechcraft combined. But alas, the ultralight boom only lasted a couple of years.

I was hired by United Airlines in 1986, and my first position was as a Second Officer (Flight Engineer) on the DC-10. In 1989 I became a First Officer (co-pilot) on the B727 and in 1991 on the B757 and B767. In 1993, I went to the B747-400 as a co-pilot. In early 1995 I upgraded to Captain on the B737-300/500. In the summer of 1998, I transitioned to the Airbus A-320 and 319. Summer of 2001, I transitioned to Captain on the B757/767 and I retired while on the B757/767.