My father, Frederick “Freddie” L. Gibbs, was born to fly and devoted his life to aviation. The virtues of humility, grace and service to others has very much defined his, and shaped my, entire adult life. My father’s deep devotion to aviation is a clear reflection of his adventurous and spirited personality. He enlisted in the United States Air Force right out of high school dreaming of becoming a pilot. However, fate intervened and he ended up as a hydraulics/pneumatics/liquid fuels specialist 200 feet underground in an Atlas missile silo. Ironically, that assignment introduced him to a whole new world of complex and compelling technology and instilled in him a work ethic that would serve him well into the future. After several years in private industry, my dad was hired into the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in mid-1971 as a Flight Service Specialist. It was a natural and predictable career choice. He then acquired his private pilot rating in late 1971. Over the next thirty years he would serve with great honor in many air traffic control operational, supervisory, administrative and managerial assignments. In large measure, the evolution of flight services used by general aviation today resulted from many of father’s visions. He also interacted with the National Weather Service, the World Meteorological Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization on a multitude of issues. He retired on December 31, 1999, from FAA headquarters as the manager of the Aviation Weather Standards Division. On January 1, 2000, he established the Aviation Research and Consulting Group, working with both the FAA and industry on aviation and safety-related issues worldwide. He has won a multitude of aviation awards through the years, the most notable being the Air Traffic Control Association’s Chairman’s Citation of Merit Award in October 2012 for his efforts in the modernization of the FAA’s Future Flight Service Program. He is a unique blend of a visionary and a “doer” with an ever-inquisitive mind. He was already talking space weather and ADS-B “In” and “OUT” back in the early 90’s!

His great affection for general aviation shaped his considerable expertise as a pilot – and flight instructor extraordinaire. For almost five decades, he ran multiple Boy Scout Aviation Explorer Posts around the country. He has taught over 1,000 people (kids and adults) to fly and presented countless safety seminars all over the country. He served as a safety officer and mission pilot for the Civil Air Patrol and continues to fly for Flights for Life. My dad’s unique understanding of the domain of private and commercial aviation (and his 16,000 flight hours) served as the cornerstone of his many important contributions to aviation safety. My father, Mr. Fred Gibbs, is and was someone to be reckoned with; he has made a difference in this world. I thought it only fitting to commemorate his 75th birthday by securing for him this important recognition on the Smithsonian Wall of Honor.