Up in the Air, A Pilot's Journey

Robert Futon was employed as a commercial pilot continuously for almost fifty years. In the course of an extremely diverse and changing industry he reinvented himself many times in order to stay "up in the air." After enrolling in college programs like Air Force ROTC and the Navy flight program erratic and insufficient college funding brought him to the "flight training station" where the last train leaving was the Army Warrant Officer Program--he joined up! At the end of Army flight training in helicopters his academic status put him in a position to have first choice of assignments. He chose Cobra gunships and left for Vietnam in 1969. In 365 days he flew over 300 combat missions. He was assigned to fixed wing flight training back in the States after his Vietnam duty. He was then given an "early out" because of cutbacks in the war and left the Service with an honorable discharge after just two years and nine months. Bush pilot in the far north, Arctic pilot well above the Arctic Circle, Crop-duster, Hospital EMS pilot and a DC9 pilot with a major airline were just a few of the pilot challenges he found himself dropping into over the years as he struggled to look for a better job with a better schedule and survive the unexpected events that presented themselves in the industry as a whole and in the life's of owners and operators of aircraft of any type. He helped raise five children who he moved in a series of double digit moves across the country to find his next flying job. At one point the family bundled into an airliner--destination 300 miles above the Arctic Circle-- with all their furniture, toys, and pots and pans in the belly of the aircraft! Robert is an award-winning speaker and storyteller, who has also written a movie script accepted by a major studio for production. Living in Estero, Florida he and his wife Debbie can be found at times navigating the shoals and beaches of Florida's 10,000 Islands in their sailboat looking for yet another adventure.