AN “ANGEL FLIGHT”

May 1, 2025

Christians all over the world just celebrated Easter and a new beginning after having completed the Lenten season, a time to review all aspects of life.  During this time, I remembered a recent experience that I was blessed to have been a small part of, by the grace of God.  I would like to share this rewarding experience.

Most people who have been blessed to own an airplane try to keep it low key.  I have been blessed to own one to support my mission of service to God, Country and Family.  It allows me to follow the advice of my mentors, Southwest Airlines legends Herb Kelleher and Colleen Barrett: “Be there for your people when they hurt and when they celebrate and just be there for them.” To me, it’s God’s airplane and I am to be a good steward in how I use his blessing entrusted to me.

Over the years, with great intentions, my advisors have repeatedly told me that I don’t need an airplane.  They are probably right.  However, they sleep in their own beds almost every night and I normally don’t.  I remind myself that over the years, my advisors believed that I didn’t need an Oklahoma or Arkansas facility or a Road Show program, but they don’t see things the same way that I do.  We support a lot of people through these facilities and programs, including our own government.  The airplane allows me to visit our people at sites all over the country and allows me to help employees in special circumstances ranging from medical emergencies, illnesses and deaths in their families to helping get them to meetings in places other than the cities where they work.  

About a month ago we needed some unique, specialized and extensive aviation skills to support an important project.  I explained this need to one of our remote based leaders and asked for his recommendations.  He immediately volunteered for the mission that would cause him to be away from home for three weeks.  This man is in his 60’s and he and his wife are raising their five-year-old grandson.  You can imagine the energy that requires! This person was recovering from back surgery and needed a cane and a back brace to walk.  To make it easy for him, I sent my airplane to pick him up in his hometown and take him to the location where he was needed.

What makes this very personal for me is the story behind the story.  This man worked for me previously and that is when the real story begins.

Several years ago, this man’s daughter graduated from college and accepted a job in our Home Office.  She was bright, articulate, and full of life and energy and a great employee.  One day I heard that she was considering going to law school.  We sat in my office and I told her that she would make a great lawyer, that she should go to law school and she could attend law school near her parents’ home.  She went to law school and ended up working for a judge in San Antonio and then a law firm.  She met a young man and they got married.  My wife Barbara and I were honored to be one of the few non-relative guests at the wedding.  As time went on, I kept up with this young couple and one day was thrilled to learn that they were expecting their first child!  I will never forget being at my ranch on a Saturday morning, working in the bathrooms on top of a tall ladder, when my cell phone rang and it was my friend, proudly announcing that he was a new grandfather.  I was thrilled.  The very next day the same grandfather called me somber and concerned when he was on the road away from home on business for my company. He said that he had just gotten a call and was asked to go to the hospital as soon as possible because things didn’t look good.  My airplane was already being used and flying at the time.  I tried frantically to get him a charter flight home but it was a Sunday on a holiday weekend and none were available. He then called me back to inform me that his daughter had died.  I hurt so very bad for this man.  I was able to help get him back home by limousine. After a couple of months, the father of this little boy had a change of heart and decided that he wanted to do something else with his life.  My friend and his wife stepped up as true angels and adopted their grandson to raise.  The boy considers my friend and his wife his mother and father.

In three weeks, the special mission was completed and it was time to get my friend home after his time away.  I offered to fly him home and join him on the flight. I was up at 4:30 a.m. for a 7 a.m. departure from Dallas.  However, the weather was bad and flights all over the nation were being cancelled. I got to the airport only to learn that we could not even file a flight plan due to the weather.  We just sat and waited.  I was determined to get this man home but I did not want to do anything that would compromise our safety.  About 10 a.m. there was a break in the weather that allowed us to depart but when we got to our destination the weather was so bad we could not land.  We had to either return home or go to an alternative location.  I was on a mission so I selected the alternate location, got more fuel and waited.  After a while, we were able to depart for our pickup location and this time we were able to land!  My friend was thrilled and really ready to get home to his wife and grandson.  My friend had shared with me prior to this trip that his grandson wanted to be an aircraft mechanic like him. He also shared with me that his wife and grandson would be waiting for us at the small country airport outside of San Antonio, near where they live.  I told my friend that I would give his grandson and wife their first flight in a private aircraft when we arrived and that I would not be on the flight.  I didn’t say why, but deep in my heart I knew exactly why.

When we landed, grandma and the little boy walked to where we parked on the ramp.  He had been told that “Mr. King” was going to take them on their first private airplane ride and he was excited.  I greeted them outside the airplane and before I would let him board I told him I needed to show him a couple of things. I got down on the ramp and pointed out the gold heart on the left-wing root.  I told him that in the center of that heart are the letters “G-C-F” and that stands for God, Country and Family.  It also reflects on my mentors at Southwest Airlines. I then crawled lower to point out the three-foot gold cross on the belly of the airplane.  I explained that wherever this airplane goes it has only one purpose and that is to serve God. I then told them to have a good flight as they made one pass around the airport.  They asked me to go but I got greater satisfaction from standing on the ground knowing that the spirit of that little boy’s mother and my friend’s daughter was sitting in that vacant seat beside the three of them.

Fifty years earlier, I flew my very first solo at an airport about twenty miles from where I gave this little boy his first flight.  I would have never imagined being able to do that on that day fifty years ago.

At all my offices, I have a Bible opened to Isaiah 40:31 that states “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.” Eagles signify rising above challenges and difficulties transcending limitations and experiencing a sense of freedom and victory.  They rise above their circumstances with God’s help.  May I be an eagle!  I am truly trying to live a life of being forever “Funded on Faith” as we touch lives, one at a time, with God’s favor.

Yes, God has allowed me to use his airplane as one more tool in my mission toolbox!

Written by KING AEROSPACE Founder, Jerry Allan King-Echevarria.