Captain Bill Travis — A Pan Am Pilot’s Life of Reinvention

How a Boy from the Farm Became a Pan Am Pilot (H2)

Captain Bill Travis’s story begins on a modest farm in rural Tennessee during the Great Depression. Like many families of that era, his parents left the land behind in search of a better life, first in Nashville and later in Detroit, where factory jobs promised a better future.

By 10th grade, Bill had joined the workforce, earning $1.00 an hour in Detroit’s booming auto industry. But weekends were for music. He played drums in dance bands on many weekends.

One Saturday, his band played at a mansion in the suburbs — a large home with a pool, pool house, and attached garage. It sparked a dream: to one day live like that. He calculated he’d need $10,000 a year — five times his current income — and began visualizing that life.

That vision became a guiding force. He left the factories and explored different jobs, including insurance sales and parcel delivery. In 1953, he was drafted into the Army, joined the 4th Armored Division Band, got married, started a family, earned his GED, and took his first flying lessons.

After his discharge in 1956, Bill briefly attended business college but soon pivoted to aviation. He earned his instructor’s certificate, taught others to fly, and landed a job with Zantop Airlines. Flying cargo across the U.S. in all conditions gave him a hands-on aviation education equivalent to a master’s degree.

Seven years later, he reached a dream milestone: becoming a Pan Am pilot.

At Pan American World Airways, Bill served as Flight Engineer and later Co-Pilot on the Boeing 707. He joined the training department, flew the 747, and eventually became Captain on the Airbus A310, flying both domestic shuttle routes and international crossings.

His first book, Pan Am Captain: Aiming High, details that extraordinary career.

Despite the demands of international flying, Bill kept active at home. He earned an AA in Speech, Communication Theory, rehabbed homes, launched a security company, and returned to music — leading a 17-piece jazz orchestra in the Bay Area.

In 2004, he moved to Arizona, became a real estate broker, and resumed home renovation. Always pursuing new goals, he began training for a bodybuilding competition with famed coach Rob Farrow. But at age 80, a sudden heart attack ended that plan. Luckily, he was already in the ER when it hit — a moment that saved his life. He recovered and returned to light workouts, until COVID disrupted that rhythm.

Still restless, the retired Pan Am pilot founded the Mesa Jazz and Blues Theater, producing world-class shows — until Omicron shuttered it. The closure led to a deep depression, but he fought back in a new way: with a pool cue.

Now at age 91, Bill practices almost daily, trains with renowned coach Jerry Briesath, competes in league play, and is chasing a Fargo rating of 500.

He’s also writing a third book, crafting tributes, and built his own website: www.CaptainBillTravis.com.

A lifelong learner, dreamer, and doer — this Pan Am pilot proves it’s never too late to start again.