History of Aeronautics

Dave is a graduate of Santa Rosa High School and USC - Marshall School of Business.

In High School he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol Cadets and in his senior year he started flying lessons at the Petaluma Sky Ranch. After gradusation from USC he remained in SoCal where he began a career as a commercial real estate appraiser. He also served 6 years in the US Army Reserves as a Staff Sargeant (the Cuban Missile Crisis happened during his time of service).

He lived in Thousand Oaks and became very involved in community and civic affairs, including serving 5 years on the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors as VP of the Economic Development Council. He worked on and was instrumental in acquiring the Oxnard Air Force base for general aviation. He served 2 years on the Ventura County Aviation Advisory Commission. He was President of the Conejo Valley Rotary Club. He was General Chairman in 1976 of the annual community event called Conejo Valley Days. 

In 1985 he came home to Santa Rosa and continued as Ford Appraisal Service, retiring in 2007. He was President of the Pacific Coast Air Museum in 2018 and 2019 and is still active at the museum.