Co-pilots continue father's flight legacy

As Kevin Vaughan was descending Southwest Airlines aircraft N374SW into Tucson, Arizona, just after noon on Jan. 30, the moment finally hit him - the end of the plane his family has christened, his brothers and father all together in the cockpit. It was special.

"About the best word I can come up with is surreal," he said. "Pretty much from the time we picked up the plane, it was status quo - kinda like any other flight. But at the end, it got emotional. It finally hit home what this meant."

In the cockpit that day, along with Kevin, 45, were three other Southwest Airlines pilots - brothers Larry, 59, and Lynn, 58, both of Canyon, and the man who started it all, their father Doyle, 83, one of the original Southwest pilots in 1971.

"We believe this is aviation history," said Larry.

He's probably right. With the four Vaughans in the cockpit - and four others along for the ride - it was a sense of deja vu for this family of flight, who took the airplane from Houston to its dismantling retirement home in Tucson.

More than 23 years ago, in July 1993, Doyle and his two new Southwest pilot sons, Larry and Lynn, flew the N374, a 737 jet, out of the Boeing factory in Seattle to Love Field in Dallas on its first flight. In between, the plane made an estimated 65,000 cycles, which is a combined takeoff and landing, with probably north of 5 million passengers.

A month later, Aug. 20, 1993, the four Vaughans were in the cockpit on Doyle's final flights from Phoenix to Albuquerque to Los Angeles and back to Phoenix as he hit the mandatory retirement age of 60. Lynn and Larry took turns in the co-pilot seat, while Kevin, then with Kitty Hawk Airlines, rode in the jump seat.

"They had the opportunity when they were young to see what the life of a Boeing captain was like a little bit,"  Doyle said, "and it just rubbed off on them, the lifestyle and all of that. I'm proud of them. They've done a terrific job. 

Doyle grew up on a farm near Melrose during World War II. As a boy, he would stop in the middle of a field and stare at a humming Piper Cub flying overhead and begin to dream.

"The bug really gets to you," he said. "It's hard to describe what flying does for you. It just gets in your blood."

Doyle flew during the Vietnam War, an instructor pilot for U.S. Army helicopters. He later flew for Hughes Tool Company. As he said, one thing led to another, and he was among the first pilots to fly for Southwest in 1971.

By then, oldest sons Larry and Lynn were 13 and 11, living in Canyon and getting the fever to fly. Their father had divorced when they were about to start school, but even before that, he would take them up in an old Bonanza single engine. As they got older, they would occasionally fly on a Southwest route piloted by their dad.

"A lot of kids do what their mom or dad does," Lynn said. "A lot follow in their parents' footsteps. All of us had an affinity to fly. Larry and I had to figure out a way to do it."

Larry graduated from Canyon in 1975, and Lynn followed two years later. Both attended West Texas State University. Larry went off to the U.S. Air Force. After his discharge, he and Lynn worked construction in Amarillo, but never lost that dream to fly.

Lynn, while working construction, got a second job at Amarillo International Airport refueling jets. Occasionally, his father would taxi in on a stop.

"It's a short 10-minute turn, but he would say to keep our noses to the grindstone and stay focused, that if you guys stay focused, you can do this," Lynn said.

They saved enough to buy a Cessna 150 and begin to pile up the hours and collect the ratings. Larry got hired by SkyWest in 1988 and then by Scenic Airlines in Las Vegas. Lynn eventually was hired by Scenic later that year.

Larry finally made the big time when Southwest hired him in 1991. Eighteen months later, Lynn was hired to make three Vaughans.

Today, they live half the year near Canyon and the other half in Park City, Utah.

Kevin is 13 years younger and grew up in Wyoming. He took a quicker route, arriving at Southwest in 1998 at age 27.

"I honestly believe it's in our genes,"  Kevin said. "It's basically a hobby we love to do and get paid for it. I don't know what it feels like to be a bird, but this has to be pretty close. We don't necessarily get in the plane. We put the plane on. We wear the plane."

About six months ago when word was out that N374 would be retired, Larry called Craig Drew, Southwest vice president of Air Operations, with a request: Could the family that took her out the first time take her in for the last?

"We were on the same page," Larry said. "He said, 'We need to get your father in the jump seat, and I said, 'Absolutely.' From there, it took off."

The four Vaughans, approaching 90 years of combined flying with Southwest, took off at 11 a.m. on Jan. 30 from Houston's Hobby airport for the two-hour, 29-minute flight. Only the day before, it had a full 137 passengers. Now, just the four, plus a videographer and three friends.

In Tucson, the N374 will be dismantled, but the Vaughans have a wish list of souvenirs. Kevin, who set the plane down, asked for the captain's yoke.

"The first Southwest pilot to touch that yoke was my father," he said. "I was the last to touch it. It was an amazing day, an amazing day."