Norman Knodt's love of flying began when he was 18 years old. In 1968 he served as a Warrant Officer flying UH-1B "Huey" gunship helicopters in Vietnam with C Troop, 1st Sqdn, 9th Cav, 1st Cav Division. He was involved in operations during the 1968 Tet Offensive, as well as at Khe Sahn and in the A Shau Valley. During this time he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After his tour in Vietnam he served as a UH-1 flight instructor at the US Army Flight School Element at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA. He then spent three years as a flight instructor flying CH-47 Chinooks and UH-1 aircraft for the California Army National Guard, and another three years as a Department of the Army Civilian Flight Instructor with the US Army Reserve in Olathe, KS.
In 1981 he moved to the civilian aviation industry. During his civilian aviation career, he held the positions of Chief Pilot for the Pan Am Helicopter Shuttle in New York, and Director of Operations for Omniflight Offshore, Inc. in Corpus Christie, TX.
Most of his civilian career was spent with Columbia Helicopters, Inc., headquartered in Portland, OR. While with Columbia, he flew BV-234 Chinooks and BV-107-11 helicopters, performing long-line aerial crane work in forestry, firefighting and power line construction. He was Columbia's Chief Pilot for Papua, New Guinea Operations, where he transported drill rigs and construction equipment by air in support of oil exploration in Papua, New Guinea.