Over the next several issues, Wingtips will profile the members of the Texas Aviation Advisory Committee. The six members are appointed by the Texas Transportation Commission for six-year terms and assist the Texas Department of Transportation with its aviation development programs. Committee members also work with members of the Legislature on various aviation issues. Members must have at least five years of experience in the field of aviation and a strong interest in supporting Texas’ general aviation program.
In this issue, we profile Committee Member Pete Huff.
Eight decades ago, a plane fell from the sky onto the Huff family farm in rural Virginia-an unusual event considering many Americans had never even seen an airplane in the 1920s. That crash landing would change the lives of Oliver Huff and his unborn sons.
After helping the barnstormer get the plane air-worthy again, the pilot promised to come back and take Huff for a ride. He did come back, and the soon-to-be-former farmer took what would become his first of many flights.
“My father became a pilot,” says Pete Huff, the second son born to Oliver and Nellie Huff. “Dad tried to scratch out a living during the depression by offering sightseeing flights in the Virginia mountains. Like farming though, that didn’t work out too well financially.”
At age four, in 1940, Pete came to Texas with his family while his father became a career commercial pilot for a fledgling company called Braniff International Airways. Pete’s brother followed in his father’s footsteps, also becoming a commercial pilot. Although Pete dreamed of flying someday, he preferred a career in engineering. Besides, his medical history-having survived diphtheria when he was two and a polio diagnosis at age 12-threatened his chances of even Rying recreationally.
“My health problems eventually went away, including my paralysis,” Pete says. “But by that time, my dream of starting my own business in the engineering field was the only thing I was thinking about.”
In time, Pete did become a pilot and later enrolled at Rice University as one of the only college kids in the nation to own a plane. However, he stopped flying to concentrate on his other dream-earning degrees from both Rice and the Harvard Business School. Back home in Dallas, Huff began manufacturing pneumatic valves for the semiconductor and automobile industries through his company, DYNAMCO. Huff eventually moved the business to McKinney. As the business grew and became a success, Huff decided to start flying again in 1983.
“I figured it was either now or never,” Huff says. “In 1987, I bought and built a kit plane and used it on sales calls across the country.” Pete also wanted to fly the single-engine plane internationally, but had to make numerous modifications so it could cross the Atlantic. In a 1995 article from the McKinney Courier-Gazette, Pete was interviewed about his upcoming flight: ”This is a boyhood dream for me,” Huff said at that time. “It’s the ultimate form of freedom .. . like you’re in heaven, so beautiful and serene, especially when you break through a cloud and there’s nobody there but you. It’s a wonderful experience.”
Later, he would describe his successful flight across the Atlantic as “pure elation.”
Huff sold his business in 2001, but flying remains a passion. Currently, Pete is an elected member of the McKinney City Council and serves as the liaison for the Collin County Regional Airport. He’s also been a member of the airport board. His work helped to shape the facility into one of the finest in the state.
Pete Huff got to realize both of his dreams. He built his own company and his own airplane. In all likelihood, neither dream would have been possible had it not been for a barnstormer with engine trouble a decade before his birth.
Wingtips: How Important Is aviation to you?
Huff: Flying gets in your blood and becomes a part of you. It provides a serene sense of freedom and beauty that nothing else does. It has been a major part of my life.
Wingtips: What was your motivation in accepting the appointment on The Texas Aviation Advisory Committee?
Huff: Aviation is more than flying. It is an industry that has to be fostered and guided to provide the benefits to business and municipalities. My appointment to the Texas Aviation Advisory Committee offered me the opportunity to help Texas Aviation grow and prosper.
Wingtips: Was there a memorable experience that you can share that has occurred during your term?
Huff: I have been most impressed with the TxDOT Aviation Staff that does the real work. The team is led by Dave Fulton with division managers Bill Fuller, Karon Wiedermann, Linda Howard and Jay Joseph. Collectively they represent scores of years of experience and operate as a well-organized, focused team. This group really makes the TxDOT Aviation Funding System work so well.
Wingtips: What are the biggest challenges you see for general aviation going forward?
Huff: The biggest challenges for aviation are government over regulation and future funding. The Transportation Security Administration is overreacting on many aviation fronts. The federal government is grabbing airspace at an alarming rate. Funding is always an issue. Fortunately, Texas has achieved an appropriate balance of funding where many other states have not.
Wingtips: What would you like the public to know about general aviation In Texas and why non-pilots should care about It?
Huff: Texas has perhaps the best group of airports in the nation. They provide business the tools that result in economic development to support our cities and state, which otherwise would not occur.
