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By Jennifer Kline-Lyman, Sentinel Correspondent, April 5, 2007

Last updated: Friday, July 27, 2007 12:22 PM EDT

From bulldozers to Colin Powell, murder investigations to brown bats, aviation has provided Jim Burton with interesting and diverse adventures during his nearly 40 years up in the air.

Burton, 57, of Perry County is a chief pilot at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, stationed with the Bureau of Aviation in the Flight Services Department at the Capital City Airport in New Cumberland.

During this 23-year segment of his career, his responsibilities have included transporting the governor and other state employees for business purposes not only in Pennsylvania but to the nation’s capitol as needed.

His distinguished passengers have included such notables as former Secretary of State Powell, the late Fred Rogers and the prime minister of Singaport.

“I was always interested in airplanes and started taking flying lessons at age 16” as a teen in Pittsburgh. He paid his way through college and paid for his flight hours by working two construction jobs.

Labor for airtime

Working 16 hours a day, Burton sometimes exchanged labor for airtime. “I traded air time by pushing dirt to help build a maintenance hanger. Every three hours of bulldozing got me one hour in the air.”

When Burton graduated from Pittsburgh University with a bachelor’s degree in geography and history, he already was qualified to instruct others on multi-engine planes.

He was a pilot for some smaller companies until 1984, when he started working for PennDOT.

“We require more hours than the commercial airlines,” says Burton, noting it takes 40 hours to get a private pilot license but PennDOT requires their pilots to have approximately 3,000 hours.

Flight Services has nine full-time employees, including four pilots on staff, and four planes.

“All our pilots are qualified to fly all of our planes. They can captain or co-pilot or both,” he says.

4 to pilot

The aircraft includes a King Air 350 and the King Air 200, which are the turbo prop passenger planes; a Cessna 182, a single engine that is used for State Game Commission incentives, and a Navajo, which is used in capturing aerial photography for map making.

With speeds up to 290 knots 28,000 feet up in the air, the King Air 350 only takes approximately 25 minutes to get to Philadelphia, 55 minutes to Erie and 50 minutes to Pittsburgh.

Before Burton is cleared for takeoff, standard pre-flight preparations occur one hour before the flight.

“We follow the same rules as the commercial airlines,” he says.

Checking and inspecting the airplane, obtaining weather, filing flight plans, and checking temporary restrictions are just some of the pre-flight checks. Burton then waits for his passengers.

After a smooth take-off Burton knows some passengers still worry about the landing.

The X factor

He says for an experienced pilot, landings have to do with practice, training, and familiarity with the equipment; however, unforeseen elements like the weather can always be the X factor.

He laughs and says, “That is why most of us here have gray hair.”

All kidding aside, Burton says, “Our passengers are familiar with us and are very confident in us.”

He adds, “This job is not an 8 to 5.”

Nights, weekends, and on-call shifts make for a unreliable schedule, which is tough for Burton’s family life.

Job diversity

But diversity within the job and outdoor working conditions keeps him motivated and state game incentives are a welcome change to his work week.

Burton has done water fowl counts, elk surveys, and was involved in the Bald Eagle Recovery Program.

His current project is tracking Indiana brown bats at night — sometimes as far as 63 miles.

“These bats are becoming an endangered species so we are radio tracking these animals. They are inserted with a transmitter that is smaller than a dime.

They release the animal at midnight and we track them.”

He adds, “I love doing this kind of flying. It is more seat of the pants flying plus I get to see the scenery.”

Aerial photography also provides Burton a breather from routine flights.

The Navajo is equipped with an aerial photographic camera and has computerized equipment in the belly that takes GPS information.

This technology enables Burton to takes pictures of landscapes, floods, tornado disasters.

It was also in this plane that Burton helped look for a murder weapon for a murder investigation.

With the advent of GPS and computer technology, flying is becoming easier.

“Technology is making planes easier to navigate but new pilots will need to maintain their basic flying skills,” he says, quipping, “Lindbergh didn’t have any of this stuff when he went across the Atlantic.”

Travel evolves

Air travel has sustained many evolutions since Lindbergh’s time; however being a pilot today can be tough with the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Burton says today things like waivers, shifting flights plans, and last-minute air restrictions are status quo.

“Being in this industry definitely has its good times and bad times. I like my job. But things are always changing in this industry and you always have to be prepared.”

Nothing so far has derailed Burton’s and he encourages others to get into this dynamic field.

“Aviation is challenging to get into but very rewarding. My advice to those that want to get in this business is to persevere. The industry changes are all for the better.”