FLOYD RIRIE 1946 - 1966 PILOT, CHIEF PILOT SLC DEN Floyd was 92 and had advanced Parkinson's. He recently fell and badly injured his shoulder. Floyd was ready for his FLight West albeit he was one of the most robust individuals I have ever known. EP Lietz saw him hand prop a DC-3 AND IT STARTED! He actually got three blades to swing. After he was retired he would meet several of us at the Deseret Gym in SLC for a game of basketball. We would take a break every so often and would be laying there gasping for air and ol' Floyd would be over doing one armed push-ups! Floyd was the chief pilot for Challenger before the merger making Frontier. He was FAL's first retiree in 1966. I was one of thosefortunate to have known him and unfortunate not to have flown with him. Sincaeronautically, -Billy Walker (3/7/99) Captain Floyd Ririe has flown West. His services will be held in SLC this Tuesday. Floyd was Frontier Airlines first pilot retiree in 1966. He was 92 and had suffered from advanced Parkinsons Disease for some time and recently fell and hurt his shoulder badly. Captain Ririe was Challenger airlines chief pilot after having been a pilot for the early Boeing Air Transport (later UAL). He was a true aviation pioneer. -Billy Walker (3/8/99) Floyd's Burial Note was sent by Ken Schultz. -Jake Lamkins (3/15/01) Hi, I am the second oldest Grandson, of departed Floyd H. Ririe, Frontier Pilot. -Ron Ririe (8/11/02) Good hearing from you. I never knew your grandfather but the Frontier pilots I know speak very highly of him. I'm not happy with the photo we have at his webpage. Do you have a better one we could use? If there's anything else you'd like on it, let me know. -Jake Lamkins (8/12/02) Hi, Jake Thank you, for your reply. I will get some photos and scan them for you. I will see what else we could ad to the information you have and send that too. My Grandpa was a Great Man. As a pilot and a Grandpa. I had flown with him prior to his retiring. It was an exciting life back then. Thank you, for you kind words. We all miss him dearly. Best Regards, -Ron Ririe (8/12/02) Posted at the FL Club: Floyd Ririe's grandson has joined the club. Floyd was an aviation pioneer who started with Challenger Airlines. He was the first FL pilot retiree in 1966. Floyd passed away in March 1999 at age 92! -Jake Lamkins (8/14/02) I finally got a good photo of my Grandpa, Floyd H. Ririe. He was 45, when it was taken. Thank you, for your interest. Best Regards, -Ron Ririe (8/21/02) Now posted at Floyd's webpage. -Jake Lamkins Check GOLDEN AGE OF FLYING book for Floyd stories. -Jake Lamkins (10/20/04) FLOYD H RIRIE Born 04 Dec 1906 Died 04 Mar 1999 Age 92 At 84106 (Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, UT) SSN issued in Utah -SSDI (10/13/05) Subject: Re: Floyd Ririe in the JN4 Jenny (Billy Walker sent some pix of Floyd) Billy, any idea what year it was taken? -Jake Lamkins (9/16/08) RE: Floyd Ririe in the JN4 Jenny It was taken at Stapleton Airfield - May1982 when Chick Stevens was doing an article for the Frontier Magazine. Pioneer airmail aviator, Jack Knight, was a friend of my dad’s. He gave his leather jacket to my dad before he died in 1945. So, I had the very leather jacket Jack Knight wore the night of his famous flight out of North Platte , NE. We had Floyd wear the jacket for the photo shoot. I then gave the jacket to Dan Todd, Frontier VP. Dan presented the jacket to the City of North Platte . It has since resided in a nice glassed-in display at the North Platte Airport . Likely you were aware that Floyd, had been an airmail pilot for Boeing Air Transport (later United Airlines). As you know, he was Frontier’s first retiree in July of 1966. Floyd was a real gentleman as well as a superb aviator. He was chief pilot for Challenger early-on. Post retirement, he would get together with the SLC pilots for basketball games at the Deseret Gym. We would play for a while and then most of us would collapse for a break to catch our wind. Floyd would do push-ups waiting for the rest of us to recover enough to start playing again. He was an amazing guy. Here’s a photo of Floyd in his Frontier uniform circa 1951, one of Floyd, Chick Stevens, and me 1982, and the Farewell Flight for Floyd at SLC July 1966. -Billy Walker (9/16/08) F. H. RIRIE Pilot seniority date of 2/15/46, #2, on the 9/1/55 FL/ALPA seniority list. -Jake Lamkins(10/3/08)