{"id":32700,"date":"2020-01-28T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/?p=32700"},"modified":"2020-01-29T11:04:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T17:04:40","slug":"business-aviation-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/business-aviation-legends\/","title":{"rendered":"Chairman\u2019s Note: Honoring the living legends of bizav"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Recently, Universal was recognized for our contributions to Texas\u2019 aviation history by the Lone Star Flight Museum. We\u2019re honored to be mentioned in the same breath as so many amazing men and women who made this industry what it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it also got me thinking. For every museum placard and\nexhibit memorializing influential aviation trailblazers, there are 10 times\nthat many everyday heroes who were just as critical in shaping business aviation\u2019s\nfuture. It\u2019s vital that we remember and honor those individuals, such as\n91-year-old Captain Johnnie Spotts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The stories of his career and his experiences are fascinating. In 1943, he took his first flying lesson. A year later, his first solo. Throughout the1940s, he flew pretty much every small aircraft there was, from Luscombes to Piper Cubs. His first professional pilot job was flying a Beechcraft Queen Air before moving up to a Hawker 125 for a company out of Dallas. When that company went out of business, Captain Johnnie happened to be in Memphis, Tenn., looking for a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As luck would have it, he happened to meet the management of\nlegendary recording artist Frank Sinatra who was in town for a stop on a\ncross-country tour. Sinatra\u2019s pilot has suffered a heart attack, and they were\nin need of a pilot qualified to fly the aircraft and finish the tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter columns-1 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts1-1024x438.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"32701\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=32701\" class=\"wp-image-32701\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts1-1024x438.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts1-300x128.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts1-768x328.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts1-400x171.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts1.jpg 1242w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Frank Sinatra\u2019s aircraft.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Captain Johnnie finished the tour and was hired on\nfull-time, relocating to California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI had a great time flying Sinatra,\u201d he said. \u201cWe made a deal\nearly on. I wouldn\u2019t sing, and he wouldn\u2019t fly the plane. We got along very\nwell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the mid-60s, Captain Johnnie met my father and Universal founder, Tom Evans. Captain Johnnie utilized Universal\u2019s services for much of his career even after he was no longer flying Sinatra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"32760\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=32760\" class=\"wp-image-32760\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-400x533.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Captain Johnnie far right with Frank Sinatra center.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTom Evans was flamboyant shall we say,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was\ngreat \u2013 he really knew what he was doing \u2013 and could get the job done. One time\nwhen I was flying for Flour Corp., we were on the way to Australia, flying over\nthe Philippines and were asked for a permit number. We had to land in Manila to\nwork it out. By communicating with Tom on the teletype machine, he was able to\nconvince the general in charge, who was on the golf course, to approve the\npermit so we could proceed. In those early days, Universal was the only company\nto have a local agent that knew aviation at each location to represent\nUniversal. Everywhere we went, we were met by competent people that Tom had\narranged, which made it a pleasure. Whoever was representing Universal was\ntop-notch people \u2013 no yoyos so it worked out good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter columns-1 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1001\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts4-1024x1001.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"32702\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=32702\" class=\"wp-image-32702\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts4-1024x1001.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts4-300x293.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts4-768x751.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts4-400x391.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts4.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Nancy Sinatra and Captain Johnnie, who flew for Nancy&#8217;s father Frank Sinatra for many years.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Working with Sinatra, Captain Johnnie recalled meeting a lot\nof interesting people over the years. Like that time he flew Princess Grace\nfrom London to Monaco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere was a big \u2018hoo-rah\u2019 surrounding her and the flight,\u201d\nhe reminisced. \u201cWhen she finally was able to get on board, she sighed and said,\n\u2018Whoo! That\u2019s over!\u2019 She was very gracious, as were most of the people I met\nflying for Sinatra. Now and again, I go through my old logbook, and it\u2019s quite\ninteresting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After Sinatra retired, Captain Johnnie had a variety of\naviation jobs traveling the world and adapting to the advancing technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter columns-1 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts2-1024x1017.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"32703\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=32703\" class=\"wp-image-32703\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts2-1024x1017.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts2-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts2-768x763.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts2-130x130.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts2-400x397.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts2.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Captain Johnnie and President Ronald Reagan.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cOver the course of my career, the equipment\non the aircraft became so more advanced, and then the jets came around and made\nthings so much better, especially getting around the weather,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Captain Johnnie officially retired in 2000. These days, he\u2019s\nenjoying retirement on his lake home back in the Tennessee woods, sitting on\nhis deck watching the squirrels and deer. Captain Johnnie said he doesn\u2019t miss\nthe travel, the FBOs, and the hundreds of hotels. But being in the cockpit is\nanother story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI do miss flying,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I\u2019d like to get out\nthere and fly sometimes. I went for a ride in an Aerostar 600 and really had a\ngood time. I hadn\u2019t looked down from the air in a long time, and it felt great\nto fly again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cI wouldn\u2019t swap my\nlife for anything. It was good to me, and I was good to aviation. I had a great\ncareer, and I really enjoyed it. I don\u2019t remember any regrets during my flying\ncareer \u2013 everything was heads up and going ahead full time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With so much changing so fast in bizav, we must remember how\nwe got here and the fantastic individuals and trailblazers like Captain Johnnie,\nwho guided us through the early years of the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter columns-1 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"997\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts3-1024x997.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"32704\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_3208-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=32704\" class=\"wp-image-32704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts3-1024x997.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts3-300x292.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts3-768x748.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts3-400x389.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/spotts3.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Captain Johnnie, Frank Sinatra and Tony Oppedisano.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For every museum placard and exhibit memorializing influential aviation trailblazers, there are 10 times that many everyday heroes who were just as critical in shaping business aviation\u2019s future. It\u2019s vital that we remember and honor those individuals, such as 91-year-old Captain Johnnie Spotts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":32757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1699],"tags":[1814],"feed_exclusion":[],"class_list":["post-32700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avgeek","tag-legendsofaviation"],"acf":{"stealth_publish":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chairman\u2019s Note: Honoring the living legends of bizav - Universal\u00ae Operational Insight Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For every museum placard and exhibit memorializing influential aviation trailblazers, there are 10 times that many everyday heroes who were just as critical in shaping business aviation\u2019s future. It\u2019s vital that we remember and honor those individuals, such as 91-year-old Captain Johnnie Spotts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.universalweather.com\/blog\/business-aviation-legends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chairman\u2019s Note: Honoring the living legends of bizav - Universal\u00ae Operational Insight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For every museum placard and exhibit memorializing influential aviation trailblazers, there are 10 times that many everyday heroes who were just as critical in shaping business aviation\u2019s future. 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