Farm Boy Reader
Calvin grew up in rural Idaho “bucking” (stacking) hay bales, setting irrigation lines and working the fields. “I think it is the best foundation for work ethic on the planet,” Calvin says. Yet, the boy had uncles who did something else. “One flew for the Air Force and piloted the P-51, F-86, F-100 and T-38. The other was a two-tour Huey pilot in Vietnam,” says Calvin. “My Air Force uncle gave me a hardcover 2nd edition of Baa Baa Black Sheep by Gregory Boyington. I read that book at 7 years old and immediately wanted to be a naval aviator. Although that dream never materialized, I can at least hold some satisfaction knowing that lights I’ve designed are installed on aircraft by the greats in the industry, including those designed by Kelly Johnson. If you’d have told me as a kid that I would design lighting to be used on aircraft like that, I’d have laughed in disbelief and been very flattered.”
One Flight, Changed Life
Calvin did not go into the military, but instead earned a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Idaho. A college classmate happened to be an A&P mechanic and sensed that Calvin was an “aviation hound.” The mechanic also had a Luscombe airplane and offered to take Calvin for a weekend flight. Surprisingly, he declined. “When I didn’t go down the military path, I kind of set aviation aside as a dream that wasn’t going to happen. My thinking then was that if I can’t fly a fighter jet, I don’t want anything to do with it.” Fortunately, Calvin reconsidered and accepted the generous offer — an offer that changed the course of his life. “That flight lit a fire in me and from then I knew I was going to be pursuing a pilot’s license. (Calvin currently has two certificates for private pilot, fixed-wing and multi-engine instrument, and is slowly working on his private pilot helicopter add-on in an Enstrom 480B.) What attracts Calvin to piloting a helicopter is the unforgiving precision required. He says, “I’ve flown a lot of unlimited fixed-wing aerobatics, and I’ve found that type of flying is similar to piloting a rotorcraft in the sense that you fly precisely with limited, controlled inputs. You don’t do anything accidentally without consequence, and I find that a very attractive and alluring challenge.”
The man likes a challenge and is goal driven. He set three goals for himself upon college graduation, some harder than others. “One was, get a dog. Also, I wanted to start playing the drums again because I always loved that, and the third item was to get my pilot’s license. I pretty much got all those done shortly after graduation.” With license in hand, he started building and flying experimental aircraft. Since the mid-1990s, he’s built several airplanes including a Velocity, and is finishing up an RV-7. He currently flies a C182 in Idaho’s backcountry and a Cessna P210. All this design work and assembly inspired him to develop a glass cockpit with business partners. They cofounded Sierra Flight Systems to sell their cockpit system. They sold that company and it eventually became part of Genesys Aerosystems.
Survivor
Then tragedy struck. He and two of his employees were flying in a Lancair IV that crashed. Calvin was the sole survivor. “The aftermath brought a series of problems that would’ve caused many to crumble, but again I faced the conflict with the determination that has defined my character of never giving up and I (effing) prevailed,” he emphasizes. That strength in the midst of adversity is one of his proudest lifetime accomplishments, but it took its toll. He reflects on that sad time of business and personal trial, “There was a lot of pressure then, and it’s probably one reason I eventually took a five-year hiatus from aviation.”
Nuclear Engineer
In his time away, beginning in 2003, Calvin turned his engineering ambitions toward the nuclear power industry, doing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element analysis (FEA) on various designs that help power our lives. It was a tough row to hoe for the former farm boy. “Facing the 10,000-plus pages of design criteria for nuclear power was an extremely challenging part of my career, but I found solace in the struggle to learn the material and also learned a lot about myself in retrospect,” he says. “My (and all other) analysis data was heavily scrutinized and critiqued by independent review, and it kept me on my toes and kept me humble. Engaging and interfacing with some of these very competent people was very rewarding. At times I felt like I’d gone through a dissertation defense (for a PhD).”
AeroLEDs FAA-PMA Facility in Boise, Idaho
rotorpro.com 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
