Lunch with Jerry Foster, News Helicopter pioneer


If you lived in Phoenix in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, you saw a lot of Jerry Foster and his helicopter. Nowadays news helicopter pilots are nothing special, but Jerry was the first, and he did it in Phoenix, Arizona. I had lunch with him today, and while he was self-effacing and gracious, I knew that he was still a hotshot.

To my surprise, Jerry hadn't realized how much of a local celebrity he was. People on TV news are, of course, in the public eye, but they seem to be pretty much interchangeable. Jerry was one-of-a-kind. I remember Jerry.

Of course, when you meet a celebrity in real life, they tend to be not as tall as you had thought, and they're older. Maybe that's because we expect larger-than-life people to actually be ten feet tall, and to look the same way they looked thirty years ago. But in real life Jerry is every bit as dynamic as I'd imagined, and as for his age, he said it best in response to the statement "there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots", which was "Really?"

Jerry Foster flying over Fountain Hills, Arizona

Jerry was a bold pilot. He took a lot of risks, and I'm sure that there were times when he wondered if he would ever survive long enough to be a senior citizen. He did, and of all the amazing things he talked about today, that's what caught my attention the most today. He wears his age with pride.

If you don't know who he is, you can Google him, or you can read his book. If you do know him, and have fond memories, please make a comment here so he can see it. There was a time in his life when he thought that people had forgotten about him, and I know that was never true.

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:

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Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 18, 2021 at 11:47 PM

    It's funny what you remember, but I think he was one of the first people to move downtown in what was the first luxury midrise that was brand new and quite the talk of the town..
    that someone well know would move there...very risky! Didn't he also have sometbing happen that had to do with pot?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Corrine RuizJuly 19, 2021 at 5:51 AM

    We’ve had lunch with Jerry many times while living in Show Low as a resident there. I remember him well & am proud to have gotten to know this AZ icon. Listening to him talk about his life & career fascinates me & we can’t wait to see him & have lunch again.
    As many people that he has rescued, people always bring up the pot! There is so much more to him then that. Read his book “Earthbound Misfit,” and get to know him.

    ReplyDelete

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