LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

When I was working as an aide to Pat Russell, who at the time was president of the Los Angeles City Council, one of my responsibilities was oversight of Los Angeles Airport which was located in Russell's district and legislation and issues dealing with air transportation in general, serving as her alternate on the Southern California Regional Aviation System Planning Board. While working with airport officials and staff on questions of noise, deregulation and security, I gained an understanding of how important commercial and general aviation airports were to the economic life and social fabric of Southern California. 

I have always been interested in aviation and first soloed in 1966 and have since written documentation for the B-1 bomber, C-130 gunship, AH-1, UH-! and OH-1 helicopters and the MD-11 commercial airliner. I pitched this book to Windsor Publications, a well established regional publisher at the time, and they offered me a contract. Unfortunately they went bankrupt half way through the publication process and the book was picked up by CCA Publications, a small company interested in aviation. The book, published in 1993, tells the history of LAX as it grows from a dirt airstrip to one of the world's major air hubs.