Airway Pioneers Forum

Last Flight, Walter Kies

From: Warren Lichtenberg #3161
Date: 01 Oct 2008
Time: 14:06:37 -0400
Remote Name: 69.81.53.176

Comments

Warren; I’ve been a reader of so many articles, last flights, history perspectives, and occasionally even contributed, thank you very much. Unfortunately this morning I have to report my Father, Walter D. Kies passed away. He retired from FAA in 1978; his last position was Chief of the Planning Staff in FAA’s Eastern Region. He was an ex-New York Center type (the “old” days), as he never made the move out to the current ZNY location at Islip MacArthur Airport back in 1964. He died of natural causes, I think mostly he missed my Mother (she passed last February). I’m one of those second generation controllers (retired myself in Jan ’05), and I had the good fortune of following a man virtually anyone I ever met said was quite a guy, a role model. His reputation was something I held dear for my whole career, and I’m sure it kept me out of trouble especially in my younger days. He was a Naval Aviator in WWII, so we’ve lost another veteran from that heroic generation.