Phil Brown

Phil Brown was born on August 19, 1943 in Lincoln, NE. In 1946 the Brown’s moved to Lodgepole where Phil grew up around aviation, soloing four airplanes on his sixteenth birthday. He gained experience helping with the family business, Lodgepole Flying Service and later Don Air Service in Alliance. Some of his accomplishments include demonstrating helicopter and aircraft, flight instruction, aircraft mechanic, charter operations, pipeline patrol, agricultural spraying, flying in air shows and helping to start the Mid-Continent School of Aeronautics, which brought students from all over the world. Phil helped during several power outages caused by Nebraska blizzards, delivering medicine to snow bound families and in one case, pulling a hunter from the Platte River who had fallen through the ice and could not get out. The City of Alliance requested Brown’s assistance when they installed a new water tower but did not have a crane available to hoist a light atop the tower. Using a Brantly 305 helicopter, he landed on top of the tower so the lamp could be installed. From 1964 to 1966, Brown was an advanced instrument instructor on the Huey helicopter at Ft. Rucker, Alabama and was the youngest instructor at the Fort. He flew with Hamilton Brothers Oil Company on the North Slope above the Arctic Circle sling loading oil rigs and supplies. During his time there, he flew a civilian Huey to rescue an oil drilling crew whose barge was being crushed by the ice flow. Brown ordered the crew to discard their wet coats, which enabled him to rescue the entire crew.

From 1970-72, Brown was VP and Chief Pilot of Trans-Nebraska Airlines working with his father, Don Brown. This commuter airline tied Nebraska to Denver and Chicago. Phil retired from Seattle Jetstream in 2004 and is currently flying part time charter and rescue missions in Meeker, Colorado. Phil has flown over 110 makes and models of aircraft ranging from the J-3 Cub to the Boeing 737, including helicopters, and has logged more than 25,000 accident free hours.