Foil: 11 Panel: 3 Column: 2 Line: 2

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Mary D. Burkett

Dean Stahr learned to fly when he enlisted in the Naval V-12 program at Iowa State College in 1963. He was sent to Jacksonville, Florida, where he served as a gunner on amphibious patrol planes over the Caribbean. Before he mustered out in 1946, his squadron was sent to the state of Washington for flights to Alaska.
After settling in the San Francisco Bay area, he opted for a career as a real estate appraiser, and flying became a professional asset, so he took flying lessons at the Bridgeport Flying Service in Napa, and bought his first light plane in 1956. He replaced that soon with a Cessna 182. That plane may be the most travelled light plane in the world, as he has logged more than 6,000 hours in the cockpit during his 40 years as a property appraiser.
Besides such destinations as vineyards in New York and Michigan, he has flown to Alaska, Mexico, Labrador, England, Scotland and Hawaii. His crowning achievement came at age 79, when he undertook a solo flight westward around the world, qualifying him to be the oldest member of the select society of Earthrounders.
He has since circumnavigated the continent of South America, and aspires to make a trip to the North Pole.
In 2009 he was awarded the EEA's Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, earned by 50 years of flying with no accidents or violations.
Dean credits his success to meticulous advance planning and adaptations to his plane, as well as careful attention to weather conditions.
At the age of 84, Stahr hopes to make at least one more transcontinental flight before surrendering his controls to a copilot, ending 50 some years of fulfilling his passion!