RETIRED AIRLINE AND AIR FORCE pilot Joe Mason shows off the Aviat Husky airplane that he recently flew from California to his home in Fairfield. Former fighter jockey and retired airline pilot Joe Mason of Fairfield traded speed for a new approach to flying when he recently bought a backcountry airplane in California and flew it to the grass landing strip behind his home.

The airplane, an Aviat Husky, is 100 miles per hour slower than his last airplane and a world apart from a Mach II speed jet he flew in the air force.

A Husky, though, is great for sightseeing from the air, which is what Mason did on the 1,700-mile flight from California to Fairfield.

“This was, indeed, a flight for the ages for an old, retired 81-year-old airline pilot,” Mason says.

In fact, the entire trip, from making the purchase to arrival at home, makes for a good tale with at least one mishap along the way.

Mason sold a Vans RV6-A airplane capable of flying 220 miles per hour and executing aerobatic maneuvers, to buy a Husky he had located through an online computer search.

It turned out the plane’s owner, William Langewiesche, is an international magazine correspondent fluent in six languages and son of Wolfgang Langewiesche, author of “Stick and Rudder,” a book explaining the basics of flight and almost required reading for pilots.

Langewiesche had made some modifications to the Husky, a craft designed for landing on short, rough fields. The airplane is powered by a 180-horsepower motor and is outfitted with state-of-the-art engine instruments, communication radios and navigation equipment.

Mason met Langewiesche in Sacramento, Calif., and completed the purchase and the two took a short flight together so that the Fairfield resident could get the feel of the controls.

At 8 a.m. the next morning, Mason took off from Davis, Calif., for the trip home on a route that initially overflew the wine country of Napa Valley, Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, Big Bear Lake, Apple Valley and Twentynine Palms.

“This was the most gorgeous scenery because it took me along the western edge of the high Sierras for about 300 miles before negotiating the Banning Pass down around Apple Valley,” the pilot says.

He delayed crossing the Sierras because a 100 mph jet stream was blowing up the mountains, creating hazardous conditions, and he proceeded across the San Joaquin Valley and its endless fields of vegetable crops irrigated through viaducts from the Sacramento River.

“All of this scenery unfolds beneath the airplane, plus huge air force bases that I’ve flown into over a half century ago,” Mason says.

He continued past Los Angeles until weather conditions improved, crossing the mountains through Banning Pass, and passing Palm Springs to refuel at Twentynine Palms.

From there he headed to Deming, N.M., for another refueling stop and encountered 45 mph winds for which the Husky is not designed.

Upon touchdown, a wind gust picked up the airplane and deposited it alongside the runway. He taxied from there to the ramp and was met by the airport manager and helper who refueled the airplane and tucked it into a hangar for the night.

He checked into an old hotel with a spiral staircase that branched out into two stairways in the lobby, had a drink at the hotel bar and listened to the bartender tell her life story and ate, before going upstairs to bed.

“Every bit of this story is out of central casting. You couldn’t make this up,” Mason says.

The Fairfield man left Deming at 8:30 a.m. for home and was aided by 50 mph tailwinds into West Texas when they shifted to a cross wind. Over West Texas he viewed wind turbines erected along a ridge line and spinning in the breeze.

Another stop, at Brownwood in gusty winds, was uneventful and Mason landed on the grass strip behind his home on N. Bateman Road at about 4 p.m.

The trip followed a scenic route laid out on a cross country flight logged on the online site www.vintageflying. com.

Mason is a native of South Carolina who spent almost 40 years combined as a fighter pilot and airline pilot before retiring in 1988.

He and his wife, Selah, moved to Fairfield in 2005 from a gated community on the shores of Lake Palestine, where the 81- year-old spent his days playing golf.

“I was tired of being around old people. I felt like I needed to move on,” he says.

The couple picked Fairfield because they wanted a farm setting near a small town, buying a house situated on 53 acres of land.

Another reason for selecting Fairfield is that Mrs. Mason’s daughter, Lindy Neill, lives here with her family. Mrs. Neill is Fairfield junior high school counselor, and Mrs. Mason is a retired school counselor.

On the 53 acres, the Masons contracted a motor grader to smooth out a 1,700-foot runway. They also cut hay on the property.

The 81-year-old kept the Vans aircraft at airports after moving to Fairfield, then decided to get the Husky because it is better suited to operations off a grass strip.

Mason earned a bachelor of science degree in agronomy in 1949 at Clemson University, where he was enrolled in Reserve Officers Training Corps, and took a commission as a second lieutenant in the air force after graduating college.

He points out that he is the sixth of seven sons in his family, and all served in the military.

After serving about 18 months in the air force reserves, Mason signed up for flight training and was shipped out within a week to Sherman.

“That’s were I fell in love with Texas,” he says.

Advanced training took him to California and Florida, and after he was checked out in the F-84 jet, Mason shipped out for Korea where he flew 100 missions in support of army ground troops.

The F-84 is a fighterbomber capable of flying 600 mph and carrying bombs, rockets and machine guns.

As an air force pilot over a career of 23 and one halfyears—— Mason was called back to duty several times—-the pilot flew everything from the World War II-vintage North American Mustang prop plane to the F-104 which was capable of flying more than 1,400 mph, or Mach II.

“It was very unforgiving, but it was a heck of an airplane,” the pilot says.

The F-104 was a highpowered jet engine guided by a pair of stubby wings only seven and one-half feet long. The plane was built for speed, but was hard to maneuver and did not carry much armament.

Mason enjoyed his time in the air force, served in spurts, because he loved flying.

“I would have done it for free. Where else can you go out and fly a Mach II fighter,” he declares.

His love of flying took him to the airline industry— the pilot served in the air force reserves and guard while working as an airline pilot——a career that spanned 33 and onehalf years with American Airlines.

The pilot retired in 1988 from both, earning the ranks of airline captain and air force lieutenant colonel.

During the 1970s, he flew airline routes to Mexico and the Caribbean, and in the 1980s flew to Europe, Hawaii and Tokyo, Japan.

He points out that the hours in the Husky between California and Fairfield were easy for him because he was used to long overseas flights.

Pilot preparation has changed a great deal from the early days of Mason’s career, one of the most important changes being the development of flight simulators.

As an air force pilot, he had to get the feel of how to fly a new airplane the first time he took off—-instruction consisted of ground school and studying operating manuals.

It was not much different when he joined American Airlines, except that he flew with an experienced pilot to get adjusted to a new airplane.

Mason reports that simulators were developed for training after four airliner trainers were torn up in a matter of months by pilots who were learning to fly them. The cost of equipment was high.

Over the years, while working and in retirement, Mason has owned a number of airplanes, including several that were aerobatic capable, and still enjoys flying.

“That was my profession, and is my avocation,” he declares.

Mrs. Mason, however, is a different story. She flew as a passenger on an airline where he husband was at the controls, but will not fly with him in a small airplane.

The couple are parents of five grown children and are members of First United Methodist Church of Fairfield.