Nelson Lewis in his Piper plane
Since Nelson Lewis was a young child he has had a deep passion for and interest in aviation. His father, who is a private pilot, introduced him to flying at an early age. Nelson’s father flies a Piper Saratoga, a small, high-performance airplane produced by Piper Aircraft. Whenever he could get the chance, Nelson would join his family and friends for day trips and vacations throughout the south. Some days he would just go up for touch and go’s around the the Savannah field.
Growing up, Nelson’s father would take him, his family and his friends on numerous short excursions. When Nelson was 12, for instance, his father flew him and his friends to the Bahamas for a day. They went to Walker’s Cay, a small island in the far northern Bahamas known for sports fishing, snorkeling and scuba diving. Nelson’s father would frequently fly the family across their native Georgia. One of their favorite places to visit was the University of Georgia in Athens for football games.
Constant exposure to aviation had a profound effect on Nelson while he was growing up. Joining his father on his various flights, Nelson learned how to read WX METAR weather briefs, and became well versed in “flight lingo” and proper operation of GARMIN GPS and flight awareness systems. Nelson’s family home growing up happened to be located under and airway Victor 145 such that planes were constantly flying up above him in the upper altitudes. The young Nelson set up a telescope on his porch to distinguish the aircraft type and or airline carrier they were flying above. When he wasn’t busy using his telescope, Nelson enjoyed flying model airplanes and launching model rockets from a field near his house at the Skidaway Island Oceanographic Institute. When he was eighteen, Nelson flew from Los Angeles to Savannah and back in the same day just for fun!
Despite the fact that he’s now an adult, Nelson’s passion for aviation and flying has hardly abated. While working in Washington, DC for Fox News, he became acquainted with numerous aviation experts, pilots and astronauts. He became acquainted professionally with both Fox News Space Contributor Dr. Tom Jones, Colonel Paul Lockhart, and Buzz Aldrin, three NASA astronauts. Meeting legends such as these reaffirmed Nelson’s love of aviation, travel and flying in general. Nelson is currently working on his private pilot license for high-performance single engine aircraft.