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BOYHOOD VANTAGE POINT LEADS TO EXTENDED HORIZON

By Lewis delavan/STEPHENS MEDIA
Friday, September 18, 2009 9:43 PM CDT

Climbing pine trees gave one former Rison youth a pilot’s perspective.

Kenneth Johnson stands by his Mooney Statesman airplane. Special to The Commercial/Lewis Delavan

As a child, Kenneth Johnson would watch the sunset from his perch and pretend he was floating above the world. But he wasn’t sure his dream of becoming an aviator would ever take flight.

A college professor helped Johnson gain his wings. Now 48, Johnson is returning the favor to a younger generation.

Johnson, manager of Pine Bluff Wastewater Utility is also a University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff graduate, a licensed pilot and a founder of Black Pilots of America. The national organization sponsors a flight program for youth at Texas Southern University in Houston, and Johnson serves as an instructor at the annual summer event.

Summer programs

“For a lot of pilots, that’s how they got their start, through the summer flight program,” said Johnson, who flew to Houston in July and spent a week helping instruct more than a dozen youths.

His aim is to help young people as his mentor, the late Lt. Col. Oscar Mack, helped him.

“It’s a chance to reciprocate,” Johnson said.

Mack, as professor of military science for UAPB’s Reserve Officer Training Corps, encouraged students wanting to fly. Johnson’s college roommate, James Deloney, was in the ROTC program and Johnson decided to enroll in a military science class, where he met Mack.

“He knew how to reach and encourage kids,” Johnson remembered. “He took a very deep interest in students. He was more or less a father figure to me in college. It motivated me and encouraged me to be more involved in my studies.”

Johnson eventually joined Mack’s Port City Aero Club. All five members at the time eventually became licensed pilots and at least three currently fly for a living, he said.

One member, Les Morris, an elementary school friend of Johnson, became the first black pilot for Eastern Airlines.

Mack worked out a financing plan that allowed Johnson to pay for his aviation training.

“I worked part-time washing airplanes, cleaning airplanes. I did many miscellaneous tasks to pay for flight instruction expenses,” Johnson said.

The instruction cost about $1,400 in 1981, but now would cost more than $5,000, he said.

After graduation in 1984, Johnson helped organize small, regional fly-ins, starting in 1993. A fly-in at Tuscaloosa, Ala., led to creation of the Black Pilots of America.

BPA’s annual national Skyhook fly-in is now usually held at Grider Field in Pine Bluff.

“They came to Pine Bluff in 1997 and fell in love with the city,” Johnson said, adding that city businesses, community leaders and the local aviation commission all have been supportive.

“It’s been truly remarkable, and I believe has been a selling point for Pine Bluff,” he said.

Two F18 Hornets flew into Pine Bluff for this year’s event Memorial Day weekend. Pilots fly in from California, New York and other states.

Johnson earned a biology degree at UAPB, and also holds a master’s in public administration. He also holds a commercial flight license, although he said he has no interest in flying for a living.

He has worked at the wastewater utility for 26 years, the last eight as its manager.

He was the first black member appointed to the Arkansas Aeronautics Commission and served a year as its chairman.

Johnson said becoming an aviator taught him a valuable lesson in life: “You can be anybody you want to be.”

He said he wants to pass along that valuable lesson to the youngsters he mentors.

“I realize not everybody wants to be a pilot, but taking an interest in a young person can still encourage and motivate,” he said. “Seeing a successful adult who looks like them can have a positive, lasting effect on a young person. It can help inspire future success.

Johnson’s Rita, is a teacher. They have two daughters — a freshman at UAPB and a 12-year-old who attends Watson Chapel schools.

His parents, Silas and Doris Johnson, still live at Rison.

“They thought I’d lost my mind when I learned to fly,” Johnson said.

But he’s grateful for the trees back home.

“I thank God for those pine trees,” he said. “They gave me the inspiration to pursue aviation.”

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