Daniel W Cochran III
Jan. 19, 1949 ?€“ Nov. 30, 2003
LT. USN, USCG

Daniel was born in Wheeling, West Virginia and grew up north of San Francisco in Marin County. He lived in Alexandria, Virginia when he passed away after a long illness at the young age of 54. Prior to his illness he was a military and commercial airline pilot, accumulating over 10,000 flight hours, and an active cyclist, runner, traveler, backpack hiker and community volunteer.

He served as a law enforcement officer in Fairfax and San Francisco, California before joining the United States Navy in 1974. He received his B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and graduate degrees from St John's College, Annapolis, Maryland and George Washington University after retiring from his aviation career. Dan began his Naval Aviator career in Pensacola, Florida, attending Aviation Officers Candidate School (AOCS). Dan took a bad fall down a stairway in his first week while at the Indoctrination Battalion and was on a medical hold for nearly a year healing. He was released from medical hold and joined Class 04-75 in January 1975.

Dan's flight training began at Saufley Field in the Beechcraft T34B piston primary trainer, and later flew jets through basic and advanced training becoming carrier qualified in the Douglas A4 Skyhawk before transferring to helicopters (helos). Dan completed his Naval Aviator training in helicopters and earned the coveted "Wings of Gold." He remained in the Navy for approximately 11 years, stationed at Pensacola and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, flying both the Boeing Vertol CH-46 helo and North American Rockwell T39D Saberliner jet. While in the U.S. Navy Dan spent time as a Crash and Fire Department Division Officer and designed and implemented Navy-wide mass casualty and disaster preparedness training program. He was an air station training officer, Beech King Air C-12 and Bell UH1N Aircraft Commander and Maintenance Test Pilot, International Logistics Coordinator and Liaison, and assisted the Chief of Naval Operations with the Grenada airlift support. He was also a training facilities manager for 13 airfields, accident investigator and incident coordinator, and pilot training and standardization officer/instructor. Dan had many other roles in the Navy and received many medals and commendations.

Dan left the Navy and joined the U.S. Coast Guard where he flew Coast Guard HU-25 Guardian jets (Dassault Falcon 20) in coastal patrol and search and rescue in the New England area. After 3 years of service with the Coast Guard, Dan joined American Airlines as an airline pilot flying right seat in the McDonnell Douglas MD-80.

Dan volunteered with many organizations over his lifetime, beginning when he was just out of high school. Organizations included a Suicide Prevention Center, Girl Scouts of Northwest Florida, Hospice of Northwest Florida, the Special Olympics in Hyannis, Massachusetts, Christmas in April in Alexandria, Virginia, and the Volunteer Bureau of Alexandria, Virginia. He was also an active member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

Dan was with American Airlines for about 3 years before attending graduate school full-time. While on vacation in Central America, he contracted multiple parasites and Lyme disease that slowly destroyed his nervous system. Even though Dan's flying days were behind him, he remained involved in aviation, which he loved to his last breath. He volunteered and was an intern at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in the 1990s. Particularly noteworthy was the research and completion of oral histories from surviving members of the WASPs, female pilots who served during World War II; the research and transcripts were submitted to the Air and Space Museum.

Submitted by sponsor:
David L Paradis
USN AOCS Class 01-75