Bill Shea '52 took his first flying lesson in a 1929 Fleet biplane. "It was all they had," he says, recalling the little Lawrence, Mass., airport where he took off for the very first time. The year was 1945 and the 17-year-old high school junior had spent his teenage years working and waiting for this moment. Every Saturday he had cleaned airplanes and hung around with the pilots. By saving every penny, he managed to earn two hours of flying lessons. Not much, but it was a start. He's been flying ever since.

Shea, who eventually earned his commercial pilot's license, has a special passion for small planes. "It's hard to explain what it's like," he says. "It's completely different from being 39,000 feet up in a huge jet liner. Up there among the fleecy clouds and the blue sky—it's like entering the fifth or sixth dimension."

In 1998, Shea, then 68, flew a vintage plane across the country. The Commonwealth Sky Ranger had two seats and an 85-horsepower engine. Shea says he tried to "fly as the pioneers would, for the sheer love of flying," and packed only an emergency kit, a small radio, a magnetic compass and a sleeping bag. He made the 2,800-mile trip in three days, sleeping under the plane at night, rising each day with the sun. Along the way, he flew as low as the FAA regulations allowed—1,000 feet above buildings—so he could get a good look at the country's landscape. "It was the most beautiful trip," says Shea, who has made a number of other solo cross-country flights.

Shea has his share of adventure stories, too. Like the time he was flying his four-passenger Piper in New Hampshire. "The oil line let go and the engine conked," he says. "Oil blew right through the heating system and landed on my lap." Behind him, barely visible through the smoke, was the Concord airport. "Fortunately the runway was close enough that I just made it," Shea says.

And there was the time he and one of his sons had to make a night landing at an airport where half the runway lights were broken. "We had to guess where the runway was," he says. "We guessed right."

Shea figures he's logged about 8,500 miles in the air during his lifetime of flying. His time on the ground has been equally productive. He has held a host of aviation-related positions through the years, including airport manager and transportation commissioner in several different cities. A stint under Gov. Ronald Reagan as chief of aeronautics for the state of California led to Shea's appointment as associate administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration from 1981-1985 under President Reagan.

Early on, Shea taught high school and worked as a guidance counselor. In 1962 he helped to found Hawthorne College in Antrim, N.H., where he served as chancellor and directed the aviation program. Shea also served as director of the Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska.

And then there's his music. Just out of college, Shea was playing bass in a big band, performing with the U.S. Army. He traveled the country playing ROTC dances at various universities. "It was a pretty good deal," he says, "especially for a single guy." Shea still plays locally near his home in Woodland, Calif., where posters advertising his gigs read, "Swing and Sway with Billy Shea."

"There have been three themes in my life," says Shea, who is pretty convinced his happy years have been touched by the luck of the Irish. "Music, education, and aviation—they've all been marvelous," he says. Luck of the Irish? Maybe. Or maybe it's Shea's own enthusiasm that's kept him flying high all these years.