Page 18 - Volume 14 Number 4

MEMBERSPOTLIGHT
Ken and Alison Kirby have enjoyed many trips in their SR22 G3 NA, including many with other COPA members, and recently upgraded to an SR22 G5.
For Ken Kirby, Airplanes and Petroleum Run in the Family
by KIM BLONIGEN
COPA Member Ken Kirby, who is currently serving Texas, and Ft. Smith, Arkansas. I attended the University
on the Board of Directors, was raised among pilots
while his father worked in the petroleum business – both became part of his life. Although he waited until later in life to attain his pilot’s license, he has made up for lost time with his Cirrus SR22 G3 NA and tallied over 1,400 total hours.
COPA Pilot: Can you give a summary background of your life?
Kirby: I was born in Venezuela; my dad worked for Halliburton Company, a large global oil field service provider, and as a result we moved often. When I was 2 years old, we moved to North Dakota, where my family had lived before I was born and we then moved to Colombia when I was 3. By the time I was 5, my mom had had enough of constantly moving, so my dad temporarily quit the business. I was raised primarily in Wichita Falls,
of Oklahoma to study petroleum engineering, and after graduating in 1982, my first job was at Crown Central Petroleum, a small company in Midland, Texas. In 1988, the company was purchased by XTO Energy and I became the 34th employee. By 2010, XTO had become the largest U.S. natural gas producer and was bought out by Exxon Mobil Corp. It served as its North American subsidiary. By the time I retired in 2016, as the senior vice president of development, the company had grown to over 5,000 employees.
My wife, Alison, and I live in the Fort Worth, Texas, area and have three grown children – Julie, Bryan and Rachel. Julie is married, lives in Houston and has our only grandchild. Bryan caught the aviation bug and is a CFII for Spartan in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Rachel is completing her degree in Chemical Engineering and will graduate in May 2019.
Ken’s grandfather (circled in red) was a member of the 103rd Aero Squadron 1919 Lafayette Escadrille that served in World War I. The photo is titled “Just Back from France.”
16 ■ COPA Pilot
COPA Pilot: When did you think about becoming a pilot?
Kirby: My grandfather was an airplane mechanic for the Lafayette Escadrille during World War I and came home with the bug. He always had an airplane in the hangar on his Oklahoma farm, and when we’d go visit, he’d always take us kids flying in his Cessna 170. Both of my uncles flew in World War II and one of them had a
MAY 2019