Craig C. Colley

Craig Clay Colley was born in Los Angeles, California in 1953. After graduating from Utah State University with a degree in Business Administration, he joined the Navy to fly and travel the world. He earned his wings in 1978 after 240 combined flight hours in the T-28 Trojan and T-44 Pegasus. He went on to fly the P-3 Orion in Brunswick, Maine where he served as a Patrol Plane Commander, Mission Commander, Instructor Pilot and Post-Maintenance Test Pilot. His second tour of duty took him back to where he started his Naval Aviation career; Pensacola, Florida. He served as a T-34 Mentor Instructor Pilot, teaching students aircraft familiarization, basic instrument, and formation flying. In 1983, he separated from Active Duty and joined a Naval Reserves at Moffett Field, California. He retired from the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander. In the meantime, he began his career in commercial aviation. He served for a short time with Transwestern Airlines and Northwest Pipeline before securing a job with Continental Airlines in 1984. During his career at Continental, he flew a variety of aircraft to include the DC-9, MD-80, DC-10 and the 737. His last flight was on July 26th, 2013 after 35 years of military and civil aviation service.