Why We Fly

Pilot repositions others' aircraft purchases

Jim Gordon with some of the various aircraft he has ferried--Beech Bonanza, A36TC (top), Titan Tornado LSA (center), and YAK-50 (bottom).

Jim Gordon tried retirement for a while, but after flying all over the world for decades, he just couldn't sit quietly in his home in Ogden, Utah. "I decided to offer my services to people needing an airplane taken to a new location," Gordon said, "but I didn't want to call myself a ferry pilot." So, he advertised himself on Barnstormers.com as a "repositioning pilot," strictly in the contiguous 48 states, lightplanes only. Given his credentials, he's been kept pretty busy by owners wanting gray temples and 28,000 hours of experience to shepherd a newly purchased airplane.

Gordon began his professional flying career like most eager young pilots--as a flight instructor, first at Lawrence, Kansas, then at the old Fairfax airport in Kansas City, where he struck up a conversation with a Zantop Airlines C-46 freighter pilot. "Call this number," said the captain. "Our chief pilot is needing co-pilots right now." When he got home, he made the call. "Can you be in Detroit Monday?" he was asked. It was Friday evening, but he couldn't see why not, so he answered in the affirmative. Then the phone rang: "That airplane in Kansas City is leaving in 30 minutes. Can you be on it?" He could and began a globe-trotting life as a flight engineer, co-pilot, and captain for what became Universal Airlines, a nonscheduled carrier hauling parts, people, and pallets.

The loads varied from automobile parts needed to keep an assembly line open to pure-blood breeding horses to soldiers heading to and from Vietnam. Gordon saw parts of the world that regular airline crews would have missed, on lengthy jaunts that hop-scotched for weeks at a time.

Gordon is type rated in the Boeing 737; Curtiss C-46 Commando; Douglas DC-6, DC-7, and DC-8; and Lockheed Electra and Hercules. But he never gave up his roots in lightplanes, building and flying a Midget Mustang and an RV-4 in his rare idle moments. Leaving the wandering life of charter flying, he finished his airline stint with America West Airlines, based out of Phoenix Sky Harbor.

Interestingly, Gordon compares his upgrades to the gross weight and fuel load he previously juggled. "In the Lockheed Electra," he said, "we grossed out at 116,000 pounds. When I went to the DC-8, I found that it carried 118,000 pounds in fuel--just over the L-188's takeoff weight--and grossed at 365,000 pounds. Then the 747 I flew next carried 360,000 pounds of fuel and weighed 820,000 pounds at takeoff. I couldn't contemplate what my next upgrade would have weighed!"

Gordon's passion for flying developed at an early age. "I jumped out of a tree when I was kid, thinking I could fly," he said. "Fell on my backside, then got up and ran around the yard, according to my mom. I've been fortunate to be allowed to do the only thing I ever really wanted to do. And if I was to do it all over again, I'd do it just the same way." He enjoyed his time as a flight instructor. "Students keep you sharp," he says, even when you fly eight hours of dual a day.

Gordon's a firm believer in flying as many different types of aircraft as possible. "It makes you a better pilot," he says. Lucky enough to see the world from many different cockpits, he's still adding to his list. "I had to hand-prop a Navion I was ferrying last year," he chuckles, "but it was a really nice-flying airplane."

Gordon enjoys his low-pressure lifestyle, flying at 1,000 feet above ground level in a Piper Cub or Cessna 150. He's ferried Cessna 172s, RV-4s, a Dragonfly, and a YAK-50 across the United States. His well-dispersed family provides him way stops in his travels, which usually aren't time critical. He flies strictly VFR, GPS-direct, having had enough of thunderstorms and ice in his airline years.

LeRoy Cook has been an active flight instructor since 1965 and has had more than 1,350 articles published. He is also the author of 101 Things to Do With Your Private License and Flying the Light Retractables.