May 12, 2000

Long-time professor of physics still flying high

by Faye Felterman, A'00 Intern in the Offices of Publications and Public Affairs

Department of Physics Chair and Associate Professor Creston "Mickey" King has been at Loyola since 1966. Although his areas of expertise in the physics world include low temperature, superconductivity, and solid state physics, he is not grounded within academia alone. Instead, this energetic and fun-loving professor has been practicing the art of flying for nearly 25 years and is even a flying instructor.

King's interest in planes and piloting was peaked at an early age in San Antonio, where his father's friends would take him flying. "I enjoyed it then but never really thought about piloting at that time," he recalls. His interest never dwindled, however, as he remembers watching the pilots practice flying at Randolph Field during World War II. Still, it wasn't until he was accompanied by Loyola colleague Brother Frank Riedinger, S.J., on a flight in 1973 when he became seriously interested in flying. "We were doing an experiment that was sensitive to magnetic fields so we flew over New Orleans East to find an area without many power lines. Of course, the real answer is that there are no areas without power lines!"

Although the expedition failed to locate a suitable area for the experiment, it was successful in prompting King to take flying lessons. King says that today flying costs remain at an average of $60 per hour. However, in the mid-70's, operating costs were around $2-3 per hour, so "I would fly every afternoon and marvel at the countryside below," he remembers. With the help of funding provided by the GI Bill (King served in the United States military from 1964-1966), he accumulated enough flying hours to receive his piloting license in 1975.

King then transferred his love of flying to the instructing arena. He currently teaches students how to fly at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport. He says the most rewarding aspect of being an instructor is watching his students' progression. "Flying is like driving a car," he explains. "At first, it can be very tricky, but with practice you'll get the hang of it. Actually, flying is even easier than driving because you don't have a bunch of airplanes trying to gun you down in the air!" He also says that most students are quick learners. "It's fun to watch students begin without knowing anything about flying. In no time at all, they get it. That's one benefit of teaching flying and one curse of teaching physics ­ sometimes, they never get it in physics!" He also believes that the current college-age generation can easily learn flying because of advances in pop culture. "College students have grown up playing video games, so they have much better hand-eye coordination," he says.

After 25 years of being in the air, King continues to love flying and instructing. "It's great fun," he says enthusiastically. In addition to cutting travel time significantly, flying also feeds King's sense of adventure. "After the first few months of flying, just getting in a plane and flying around without any specific destination loses some of its thrill, just like driving does. It's more fun when you have a definite place to fly to. Teaching gives me a semi-excuse to fly and a place to fly to. Most of the pilots at the airport are just looking for an excuse to go flying." With his strong passion for piloting and instructing, King will never lose that thrill of being in the air.