Profile Screen
WN
William Norris
CEO
Future Products Corp
GOALS:
MY LOVE FOR AVIATION ? My name is William J. Norris, I am a member of AOPA. I was born in Puerto Rico in 1948, moved to New York in 1951 and returned to Puerto Rico in 1971 and have been living there since then. I have always been passionate about Aviation. Looking back at the earlier part of the 1950s in Brooklyn, NY, I was a few years old then, there was a US postal stamp with a drawing of a then modern four engine Constellation. Every time I would see this stamp I would feel myself plunging into a fantasy of flight where I pictured myself as the pilot of that aircraft. In those days I would also dream of flying old WW1 biplanes. Back then I would buy balsa wood airplane kits, but unfortunately I had no building experience and those first kits turned out to be disasters, but I never gave up hope. Fortunately as the years passed I gained quite a bit of experience and became a fairly good R/C builder and flier. It wasn't until 1964 when I was 15 years old that I joined Civil Air Patrol, New York Wing, Manhattan group that in August of that year I got my first taste of Flight in a Piper Cub PA-18, N233NY at Miller field, Staten Island. I'll never forget how excited and nervous I was. It was a chilly day and I was scared to death especially seeing the cadets that were before me come back from their initial flight with a bag full of barf. When it was my turn, the pilot, Capt. Bloom handed me a motion sickness bag and I don't blame him, I guess he saw how my knees were knocking against each other. As I climbed aboard and got strap down, Captain Bloom started taxing to the end of the field, aligned the aircraft down the grass runway and applied full power. At this point I realized that there was no turning back. So I was committed to fly. Capt. Bloom swiftly applied full throttle, the engine roared to life with a deafening sound and vibrations as the aircraft started rolling and bouncing down the grass runway. As we picked up speed, so did my nervous state. I was now at the climax of this precarious situation with my heart pounding and crawling up my throat. Could you imagine how I felt? But low and behold as I was clenching onto my seat for dear life the aircraft lifted off the ground and as I look out the right window I saw my cadet buddies waving at me and to my surprise all my fears completely disappeared into the air as if someone had pulled an imaginary plug in the kitchen sink and all those fears went down the drain. For the first time in my life I experienced a feeling and sensation that I had never before felt, I wasn't nervous anymore, my knees stop knocking, my heart calm down and a powerful feeling of security, well-being and confidence took over me. This confirmed my boyhood love affair with aviation, a love affair that through the years has not dwindled but has grown more intense as the years have passed. Now Capt. Bloom flew over some clouds that where close to the Statue of Liberty, then he flew over one of the clouds and yelled “let me show you how we used to fly in the war”. He pulled the control stick back and then brought the throttle to idle, the Cub came to a stop in the vertical position and started to slide down tail first, within seconds we were in the cloud and the aircraft started spinning. My head began banging the right and left side windows. I didn’t have time to wonder what was going to happen next. Within a few seconds the Cub broke out of the bottom of the cloud and Capt. Bloom applied opposite rudder to stop the spin and after braking out of it, he then applied full power and leveled the aircraft. He asked me how I was doing and I said that I was good, now he let go of the control stick and put his hands up in the air and yelled “ok, she’s all yours”. Immediately I grabbed the stick to control the Cub, at the same time he started to give me instructions, “Make a 360 degree turn to the left and then to the right and after that a Cuban 8”. Before returning to Miller Field we did a few more maneuvers and then we landed. I was surprised that I was one of the few cadets that didn't vomit. At that moment I realized that flying was for me. I felt a deep desire to become a pilot. Back then an hour of flight instruction in a Piper Cub cost about 6 dollars but at that time I couldn’t afford that much money and neither could my mother. In October 1968, I enlisted in the Marine Corps and after six months of basic training and ITR, myself and 9 other Marines were selected for a special assignment of three months at Sea school training, out of ten thousand Marines that had orders for Vietnam. I spent a year and a half aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA-42, aircraft carrier. After my discharge in 1971, I returned to Puerto Rico and in 1972 got married and started to raise a family. Today I am the proud father of four boys who have blessed me with 6 gran children. After a few years I started a business and in 1987 I was able to pay for my flying lessons and in three months got my private pilot license. Since then I’ve been the proud owner of 2 Piper Colts, 1 Citabria, 1 Tiger Moth 82A, 1 Wilga PLZ, 2 Trikes, 2 Piper Cubs and at the very moment one 1940 Piper super J-3 Cub N32587. As I look back at my aviation journey I must admit that It has been good and fulfilling, I wouldn't trade it for anything. William J. Norris 11195 Ave 65 Infantería Carolina, PR 00987 Tel: 787-215-3590
MY LOVE FOR AVIATION ? My name is William J. Norris, I am a member of AOPA. I was born in Puerto Rico in 1948, moved to New York in 1951 and returned to Puerto Rico in 1971 and have been living there since then. I have always been passionate about Aviation. Looking back at the earlier part of the 1950s in Brooklyn, NY, I was a few years old then, there was a US postal stamp with a drawing of a then modern four engine Constellation. Every time I would see this stamp I would feel myself plunging into a fantasy of flight where I pictured myself as the pilot of that aircraft. In those days I would also dream of flying old WW1 biplanes. Back then I would buy balsa wood airplane kits, but unfortunately I had no building experience and those first kits turned out to be disasters, but I never gave up hope. Fortunately as the years passed I gained quite a bit of experience and became a fairly good R/C builder and flier. It wasn't until 1964 when I was 15 years old that I joined Civil Air Patrol, New York Wing, Manhattan group that in August of that year I got my first taste of Flight in a Piper Cub PA-18, N233NY at Miller field, Staten Island. I'll never forget how excited and nervous I was. It was a chilly day and I was scared to death especially seeing the cadets that were before me come back from their initial flight with a bag full of barf. When it was my turn, the pilot, Capt. Bloom handed me a motion sickness bag and I don't blame him, I guess he saw how my knees were knocking against each other. As I climbed aboard and got strap down, Captain Bloom started taxing to the end of the field, aligned the aircraft down the grass runway and applied full power. At this point I realized that there was no turning back. So I was committed to fly. Capt. Bloom swiftly applied full throttle, the engine roared to life with a deafening sound and vibrations as the aircraft started rolling and bouncing down the grass runway. As we picked up speed, so did my nervous state. I was now at the climax of this precarious situation with my heart pounding and crawling up my throat. Could you imagine how I felt? But low and behold as I was clenching onto my seat for dear life the aircraft lifted off the ground and as I look out the right window I saw my cadet buddies waving at me and to my surprise all my fears completely disappeared into the air as if someone had pulled an imaginary plug in the kitchen sink and all those fears went down the drain. For the first time in my life I experienced a feeling and sensation that I had never before felt, I wasn't nervous anymore, my knees stop knocking, my heart calm down and a powerful feeling of security, well-being and confidence took over me. This confirmed my boyhood love affair with aviation, a love affair that through the years has not dwindled but has grown more intense as the years have passed. Now Capt. Bloom flew over some clouds that where close to the Statue of Liberty, then he flew over one of the clouds and yelled “let me show you how we used to fly in the war”. He pulled the control stick back and then brought the throttle to idle, the Cub came to a stop in the vertical position and started to slide down tail first, within seconds we were in the cloud and the aircraft started spinning. My head began banging the right and left side windows. I didn’t have time to wonder what was going to happen next. Within a few seconds the Cub broke out of the bottom of the cloud and Capt. Bloom applied opposite rudder to stop the spin and after braking out of it, he then applied full power and leveled the aircraft. He asked me how I was doing and I said that I was good, now he let go of the control stick and put his hands up in the air and yelled “ok, she’s all yours”. Immediately I grabbed the stick to control the Cub, at the same time he started to give me instructions, “Make a 360 degree turn to the left and then to the right and after that a Cuban 8”. Before returning to Miller Field we did a few more maneuvers and then we landed. I was surprised that I was one of the few cadets that didn't vomit. At that moment I realized that flying was for me. I felt a deep desire to become a pilot. Back then an hour of flight instruction in a Piper Cub cost about 6 dollars but at that time I couldn’t afford that much money and neither could my mother. In October 1968, I enlisted in the Marine Corps and after six months of basic training and ITR, myself and 9 other Marines were selected for a special assignment of three months at Sea school training, out of ten thousand Marines that had orders for Vietnam. I spent a year and a half aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA-42, aircraft carrier. After my discharge in 1971, I returned to Puerto Rico and in 1972 got married and started to raise a family. Today I am the proud father of four boys who have blessed me with 6 gran children. After a few years I started a business and in 1987 I was able to pay for my flying lessons and in three months got my private pilot license. Since then I’ve been the proud owner of 2 Piper Colts, 1 Citabria, 1 Tiger Moth 82A, 1 Wilga PLZ, 2 Trikes, 2 Piper Cubs and at the very moment one 1940 Piper super J-3 Cub N32587. As I look back at my aviation journey I must admit that It has been good and fulfilling, I wouldn't trade it for anything. William J. Norris 11195 Ave 65 Infantería Carolina, PR 00987 Tel: 787-215-3590