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News - Guest Speaker Motivates Tyler Composite Squadron, 3 September, 2010
TYLER, Texas – On Aug. 24, 2010, Chuck Vincent came to the Tyler Composite Squadron not only to talk about what he had gone through in his aviation career, but also to give us advice on how we could get into aviation careers. He started his presentation by saying, “I didn’t come here to talk to you. I came here to talk with you.” He then told us about his time in the Air Force, and what he had gained from that experience. He also talked about several businesses he had after coming out of the military and how, after a while, he discovered his love of aviation. He saved the best part for the end, telling us about his career in aerobatics and how amazing it is. The presentation was totally amazing, and never made us feel bored at all.
Chuck Vincent enlisted in the Air Force when he was 17. He hadn't finished high school when he joined, since he had been eager to see the world and couldn't wait. However, Mr. Vincent said, “After joining the Air Force I had a rude awakening, but it was a foundation for my life.” He served 8 years in the military, and these were an unforgettable experience. While in the military, he flew in helicopters, and this awoke his love of flying. Then he got out of the Air Force and started working on realizing his dream: he wanted to fly.
After leaving the Air Force, Mr. Vincent said he went through several different jobs. During that time, he said that not having finished high school had really hurt him trying to get the jobs he really wanted. Eventually, he was offered a job to sell airplanes. That led him to Houston, Texas, where he started taking flying lessons. He went on to say that, at one time, he had flown for Eastern Airlines, until it went bankrupt. He eventually established a computer company, Global Data Systems, which grew to be a very successful communications and networking enterprise.
Mr. Vincent then said that, at the age of 60, he started doing something he had always wanted to do, and that was aerobatics. He bought himself a certified aerobatics plane, and started to teach himself how to fly it. He said , "I wouldn’t recommend doing that to anyone going into aerobatics." He explained that the better you are, the lower the altitude you fly. Furthermore, he said that after 23 days you can lose all your G tolerance unless you keep flying every day, pushing your body to the max.
At the end, Mr. Vincent showed us a few videos of himself flying. It was thrilling. He definitely gave all of us a good look at aerobatics.
It was definitely one of those amazing lectures. We learned about what he had done and, best of all, he showed us that you need courage to keep going. He told us that our first priority needs to be devoting all our time at receiving a good education.
Chuck Vincent really gave us a wonderful overview of life and its ups and downs, But his lasting message was, "Keep going no matter what." Having been able to come talk to us was really a blessing to us all.
Cadet Master Stg. Peter Goodwin, CAP