WHIDBEY
BRIDGE Page A4
BRIDGE TOURNAMENT: Bridge players from all over Whidbey Island will be playing The Longest
Day fundraiser starting 6 a.m. Saturday, June 21 at the Sierra Community Clubhouse, 2685 San Juan St., Coupeville. The all-day bridge tournament will raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association. There are four games scheduled throughout the day with dinner planned at 5 p.m. For information, call Peter Wolff at 360-678-3019, Sue Thomas at 360-678-7047 or Mardi Dennis at 360-675-5044.
WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM
Saturday, June 7, 2014 • Whidbey News Times
Veteran retires from private flying after 47 years By JANIS REID Staff reporter
When 80-year-old Al Enriquez joined the Air Force, he never thought he’d be a pilot. He served four years in other capacities and then went to college under the GI Bill, where he studied communications and advanced planning. Still, since he was a young man, he was mesmerized by aviation but thought that being a pilot was beyond his capabilities. “I have watched airplanes since I was a little boy,” Enriquez said. In 1966, he began flying small prop planes while working at Norfolk Naval Air Station under contract. “I really wanted to go sailing at first, but a trip to the Norfolk Airport on a Sunday morning to have breakfast, which I did regularly, I took a wrong turn at the airport entrance,” Enriquez said. Out of curiosity, he stopped at a flight school just to inquire what it took to take flying lessons. The following day, he took his first introductory flight in a small Cessna, and he was hooked. “Within eight hours, I soloed,” Enriquez said. Enriquez has flown ever since, logging more than 2,400 flight hours. Best known locally for his fly-bys during Holland Happening and the Fourth of July parades, Enriquez recently decided to sell his beloved airplane and retire
his wings after 45 years. “I really enjoyed my flying career,” Enriquez said. Giving up his favorite pastime has not been easy for him. “I’ve prepared myself for almost four years now,” he said. “I fell in love with flying. I really had an aptitude for it.” Ultimately, it was the scientific precision of flying that he loved. “I love the part that you go from point A to point B in a very disciplined environment,” Enriquez said. “The airplane is unforgiving of any carelessness or neglect.” He originally came to Whidbey Island with his wife, Lucy, in August 1968 to work on a Navy contract at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. He worked as an aerospace logistics representative for North American Aviation, now known as Boeing, he said. When he came to Whidbey, he continued his flying lessons until he gained a private pilot license. Then, under the GI Bill, he continued to acquire ratings as a commercial pilot, flight instructor and ground school instructor. In 1973, while instructing at the Navy Flying Club, he purchased a small trainer from the club and started Alcon Flight School at the Oak Harbor Airport. In 1978, he acquired an additional airplane, a fully instrumented Cessna Skylane. “A real four-seater air-
Photo by Janis Reid/Whidbey News-Times
craft,” he said. Among the many trips Enriquez, his wife and two daughters made over the years, in 1979 he and his family took the trip of his dreams. They flew to his birthplace in Mexico to attend a family reunion. He and the family flew again to Mexico the following year to attend the wedding of his nephew. After 12 years, he relinquished training in his Alcon Flight School due to commitments with his career in logistics. Enriquez said he is looking toward having new adventures with his wife on the ground — via motorhome.
Photo courtesy of Al Enriquez
Top photo, Al Enriquez and his wife, Lucy, of Oak Harbor, have made trips around the world in propeller airplanes piloted by Enriquez. Bottom photo shows Enriquez and his nephew on a trip to Mexico.
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