Longmont pilot, mentor Jack Greiner inducted into Colorado Aviation Hall of FameBy Magdalena Wegrzyn Longmont Times-CallPosted:
LONGMONT -- Jack Greiner caught the aviation bug at age 13. Apparently, it's a persistent condition. Now, at age 91, Greiner has become a part of the state's aviation history. On Saturday, the Longmont man was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame. A photo and biography of each hall of fame member hangs in the Colorado Aviation Historical Society's Heritage Hall in the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver. It all started in 1933, when Greiner's father took him and his sister to the Minneapolis airport, where a group of barnstormers -- pilots who crisscrossed the country selling plane rides -- was offering trips in the sky for $1. With only enough money for one ticket, Greiner's sister got the coveted ride while he stayed landbound.Determined to experience his own flight, Greiner returned the next weekend -- and most weekends after that --and sold tickets for the barnstormers in exchange for a small commission and, of course, plane rides. Jack Greiner is seen between the frame of an airplane he is building in his hangar Monday at his home south of Longmont. Greiner will be inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame for his work educating children through the Antique Aircraft Association. (
Matthew Jonas
That led later to a stint as an airshow stunt pilot, an aircraft mechanic and a flight instructor. Greiner joined American Airlines at age 21 and flew commercial jets for 12 years. Nerve damage from the onset of polio in 1950 cut his career short. Because that aviation bug tends to be contagious, Greiner also turned to educating the next generation of pilots. Inside an airplane hangar attached to his home in southwest Longmont sits a 1946 Taylorcraft. Members of the Antique Airplane Association of Colorado and a group of youngsters interested in aviation meet twice a month in the hangar to restore the plane, which may be ready for flight by spring. A sign reading "bi-plane rides" is seen above a shelf of awards and trophies inside Jack Greiner's hangar Monday at his home south of Longmont. Greiner will be inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame for his work educating children through the Antique Aircraft Association. (
"You put a smile on (children's) face and they love it," Greiner said. "I get more of a bang out of it than they do, and they get a pretty big bang out of it." Though he still flies occasionally, Greiner, who turns 92 in December, admits that he's "slowing down." To date, he has restored 11 antique planes and built three others from the ground up. "I love creating something out of nothing and having it fly," said Greiner, who moved to Colorado in 1958 and worked in real estate. Jim Sutton, president of the Antique Airplane Association of Colorado, called Greiner "a living legend." "I think his wellbeing has a lot to do with him living his passion," said Sutton, 56, who lives in Weld County. Jack Greiner is seen working on a biplane in his hangar in this Times-Call file photo from May 5, 1979.
For many, aviation can seem unattainable, Sutton said, and Greiner has inspired young people to pursue careers in the field. Though the total number U.S. pilots has steadied over the past decade, it's a far cry from the pilot boom of the '70s and '80s. According to the Federal Aviation Administration's civil airmen statistics, there were more than 827,000 pilots in 1980. Last year, the FAA listed about 617,000. Of those, less than 23 percent were under 30. Especially as more baby boomer-era pilots retire, a new generation needs to take over, Sutton said. One future pilot waiting in the wings is Destiney Krell, a junior at Erie High School, who plans to become a commercial airline pilot. "Jack opened up a lot of windows for kids like me into the aviation world," said the 16-year-old Frederick resident. When Krell was 11, Greiner was one of the first pilots to take her for a ride in his Aeronca Champ. The teenager described the experience as "mindblowing." "It was like being welcomed into a whole new world and if it wasn't for Jack, I wouldn't know what I want to do with my career to this very day," she said. Greiner has been a role model, Krell said, for both her and her friends. "I was pretty clueless when I first started in the aviation world, but as most pilots would say, when you get started flying it's kind of like you get the bug," she said. Magdalena Wegrzyn can be reached at 303-684-5274 and .Print Email Font ResizeReturn to Top RELATED