I grew up in Odessa, Texas, graduating from Permian High School—home of the Friday Night Lights. I am a third-generation pilot, and as the son of a WWII Army Air Corps pilot, I was inspired to fly when watching military aircraft at a nearby USAF pilot training facility—Webb Air Force Base. My first job at the age of 13 was sweeping hangars at Schlemeyer Field on the north side of town...anything to be around airplanes. I got two glider rides and sat in the backseat of a tow plane. One time and I was hooked! After getting my driver’s license, I drove to flying lessons at the Midland International Airport, and soloed before heading to the United States Air Force Academy; a logical choice for college—if you want to join the company, you should probably attend the company school!
Following USAFA graduation in the class of ’78, my first military aviation assignment was as a T-38 Instructor Pilot. A few years later, as Captain Vance, I flew the A-10 at RAF Bentwaters, England, supporting NATO operations on the European continent; and later at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. I was selected to be among those elite few to attend the United States Air Force Test Pilot School. Our class motto: Even a dead fish can float downstream. Seriously. Upon graduating with class 88B, I was assigned to the F-16 Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of California. During those fast-paced, incredible years as a Mach two, hair-on-fire military test pilot, I flew a variety of weapons development programs, engine tests, new F-16 avionics upgrades, and several classified programs. We can truly stop the bad guys in their tracks when we have the will.
I later “flew a desk” at the Pentagon in the Secretary of the Air Force’s Offices of Special Programs and Legislative Liaison, and then returned to Edwards as Deputy Commandant of the USAF Test Pilot School. For my final tour on active duty, I reported to Hill Air Force Base in here Utah to command the 514th Flight Test Squadron, again flying the Viper…without a doubt my most challenging officer assignment.
Following retirement from the military and now as Mr. Vance, I flew for Delta Air Lines based in Salt Lake City for just a few short months before terrorists attacked our nation with our own aircraft on September 11, 2001. It could have been any of us. Though I was fortunate to still be flying, all the flight crews’ salaries were drastically reduced; and eventually I was among the many to permanently exit the industry.
I returned to my old job at the USAF Test Pilot School—this time as a civilian! And still flying fighters! I became Chief of Training, flying the F-16, T-38, King-Air, and all the gliders…the same flying I did as a military officer just a few years prior. Opportunity knocked again, and I took a position as a test pilot, instructor, and evaluator for the Federal Aviation Administration, where I earned ten type ratings in aircraft ranging from business jets like the Cessna Mustang, Embraer Praetor 600, ad the Gulfstream G-650 all the way up to heavy transports like the Boeing 777. There I saw firsthand the wide variety of the latest technology the aviation industry has to offer. At any one time, I was the test pilot on over 100 projects. Because of my extensive experience in supersonic, high-altitude flight, the FAA assigned me to the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the SpaceShip II fatal accident in 2014.
An advantage of decades of experience both in the public and private sector, in the cockpit or the boardroom, is that I can see how each job or military assignment I’ve ever had has always prepared me for the next chapter. Jeremiah 29:11 has clearly been controlling in my life, and continuing in public service is my very clear next logical step. As we say in the military, “Happy to be here, proud to serve.”
