Retired pilot back in the cockpit

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- He’s a man who has lived his life flying the skies.

And over 5 decades ago he flew the first T-38 to the Columbus Air Force Base.

Today, at 85, he got to sit back in the pilot seat, so to speak.

Flying is a passion for retired Lt. Col. James L. Cole.

“Somebody now says you want to go fly an airplane I say what kind,” said Lt. Col. Cole.

He’s a little pickier these days when it comes to going up in the air. Or what he’s going up in.

“If it’s a taildragger, I’d like that.

Taildragger, or drag tail?

“My wife of all people calls it a drag tail. She says, ‘are you going to go fly a drag tail? I said it’s not a drag tail it’s taildragger.’ So that’s how it is. I love it.” said Lt. Col. Cole.

The retired pilot spent the afternoon in a T-38 simulator at the Columbus Air Force Base.

Reliving a dream that was a huge part of his career.

“So much water has passed under the bridge with so many other airplanes, I was amazed I could remember final approach speed, some of the acro speeds, other than that there’s not a lot of difference. But the landing seemed to go okay.”

54 years ago, Lt. Col. Cole brought Columbus’s first ever T-38 from Vance Air Force base in Enid, Oklahoma for an upcoming air show.

“They said we need somebody to fly a T-38 to a little air base in Mississippi. I said what’s the air base, they said Columbus. I said, I’m your guy.”

That’s not the only first for this veteran pilot. Years ago, when simulators were being invented, Cole helped design simulators being made in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“I simply went over there and told them what I thought needed to be changed, what didn’t need to be changed. If it flew like I thought it should, You know, to help them out, they weren’t pilots.”

Lt. Col. Cole retired from the military after 23 years of service. He also soared the skies as an American Airlines pilot, doing just what he says he was born to do. Fly.

“It’s just like putting on a silk glove. I thought, I can do this and I do it well. And sure enough, it just came to me very easy. It was never a challenge,” said Lt. Col. Cole.