CLAY LACY
CEO, CLAY LACY AVIATION
Hershel Clay Lacy (born August 14, 1932) is the founder and former CEO of Clay Lacy Aviation, established in 1968 as the first executive jet charter company in the Western United States.
His professional resume includes airline captain, military aviator, experimental test pilot, air race champion, world record-setter, aerial cinematographer, and business aviation entrepreneur. Lacy has flown more than 300 aircraft types, logged over 50,000 flight hours and accumulated more hours flying turbine aircraft than any other pilot in history.
Aviation Career
Growing up on a farm near Wichita, Kansas, during the Great Depression, Lacy developed an early fascination with flight. He learned how to build model airplanes at age five and created his first gasoline-powered flying model at age eight. At age 12, Lacy piloted his first aircraft at Cannonball Airport, built on his grandmother’s farm about three miles outside the city limits of Wichita, where he worked in exchange for flying time. In 1948, at age 16, he earned a flight instructor rating.
By age 19, Lacy had accumulated nearly 2,000 hours of flight time as both an instructor and ferry pilot. In January 1952, Lacy joined United Airlines as copilot on the Douglas DC-3 aircraft and was stationed at Los Angeles International Airport, where he was based for his entire airline career. During his time with United Airlines, Lacy flew the Convair 340, Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-4, Douglas DC-6, Douglas DC-7, Douglas DC-8, Douglas DC-10, Boeing 727 and Boeing 747-400. He retired seniority No. 1 in 1992 after 41½ years of incident-free flying.
In 1954, Lacy took military leave from United Airlines to join the California Air National Guard at Van Nuys Airport, where he flew the F-86 Sabre jet and became the officer in charge of instrument training. He was called to active duty in 1961 for one year during the Berlin crisis, flying the C-97 Stratofreighter on missions to Japan and Vietnam. He retired from military service three years later.
In 1964, Lacy flew the first Learjet into Van Nuys Airport in proximity to Hollywood’s burgeoning entertainment industry, shaping a new era in corporate air transportation and mobility. In 1968, he founded Clay Lacy Aviation as the first jet charter company on the West Coast, known as one of the most experienced operators of private jets in the world.
Between 1964 and 1972, Lacy found time between flying for United Airlines and running his private charter business to fly his P-51 Mustang in air races across the United States. In 1970, he placed first in the Reno National Air Races Unlimited class competition.
In the early 1970s, in partnership with Continental Camera Systems, Inc., Lacy helped revolutionize air-to-air cinematography with the Astrovision camera system. He is credited with more than 3,000 film projects for the military, motion pictures and television, including most airline commercials featuring air-to-air photography.
During the 29-day United Airlines pilot strike of May 1985, Lacy was one of the first and most prominent pilots to cross the picket line and go back to work, thus undermining the unionized pilots’ attempts at better pay and work rules. The decision garnered him significant criticism from many in the industry and caused him to be listed on the airline unionist’s “US Master Pilot Scablist”.
Lacy holds 29 world speed records, including a 36-hour, 54-minute, and 15-second around the world record in 1988 flying a Boeing 747SP called “Friendship One” that raised $530,000 for children’s charities.
On July 17, 2010, Lacy was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame for his achievements as an aviation pioneer. The same year, he was awarded the Pathfinder Award by the Seattle Museum of Flight and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. In November 2011, Lacy was inducted into the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame, housed at the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, Kansas. In June 2020, the Los Angeles Business Journal listed Clay Lacy among the 500 most influential people in L.A. for the fifth consecutive year.
