When Hal Cope began flying shortly after World War II, he had an inkling that he might be setting the tone for future generations.
On Tuesday his son Eric, who is retiring from Hawaiian Airlines at age 62, captained a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft on his final flight from Sacramento, Calif., to Honolulu. Eric’s son, first officer Levi, 38, was to his right as the co-pilot. And one of the 210 passengers aboard was the elder Cope, 88, who briefly worked as a consultant for Hawaiian on a couple of occasions after having flown for several Canadian airlines during his career.
It was something you don’t see every day: three generations of pilots on one flight.
"I got started in the airline business in 1948, and I passed the bug to Eric and he passed it on to (Levi)," Hal said. "There’s no known antidote."
Eric was overwhelmed Tuesday by all the attention as he posed for pictures in the cockpit, answered questions from the media and spoke to well-wishers. It was a family affair with 10 members of his family on the flight.
"It was crazy special to fly my last flight with my son on a 76 (Boeing 767), and to have my whole family on board was very cool," said Eric, who began at Hawaiian on Dec. 3, 1985.
"I watched my dad be in aviation, and I hadn’t really decided to do it until I got the bug to fly when I was 20 and went into the U.S. Army and they accepted me to flight school. Then that was it. I was done. I had to keep on doing it."
Levi didn’t wait nearly as long to catch the fever.
"I started off looking at little Cessnas flying over the house, and I never stopped since I was a 3-year-old toddler," Levi said.
He said he’s flown about a dozen times with his dad, but making the final flight with him was extra special.
"It’s a huge honor," Levi said. "It’s probably one of the greatest flights I’ve had."
Hal, the one who started it all, said his memory is fading as he closes in on 90, but this flight is permanently etched in his mind.
"I don’t know how many memories I’m going to take to my grave, but if it’s not going to be but one, that’s today," he said.
Hal was president of Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Transair in the late 1960s through most of the ’70s. He said he rebuilt it and merged it with Pacific Western Airlines in 1979. Hal, who flew for several Canadian airlines during his younger days, said he later co-founded Mid Pacific Air in Honolulu in 1981. It competed with Hawaiian and Aloha airlines with low-cost interisland fares before ending passenger service in January 1988.
Eric, who lives on a ranch in Angels Camp in Central California, said he plans to spend his retirement running the vineyard that he and his wife, Brigid, own, making wine, visiting grandkids and working as a flight instructor.
He said he’s going to miss flying the big jets.
"I like the equipment because it’s spectacular flying 76s, DC-10s and L-1011s," he said. "I like the airplanes. I like being up high like that. It’s just peaceful and lovely. It’s just a great way to make a living."
Eric said he’s never been "keyed up" in all his years of flying.
"To me it’s just fun," he said. "Even when things go wrong, we’re trained, and you don’t even think about it. You just do it and it’s not a bad thing."
He said he doesn’t even give turbulence a second thought.
"No, heavens no," he said. "When you know how these airplanes are built and what they will take, they will take a whole lot of punishment, so it’s not an issue."
