In Recess November 2022
Space in Three Dimensions
Dallas attorney David Norton brings together his dual passions of aviation and the law
Interview by Eric Quitugua
Photos courtesy of David
Norton
David Norton purchased a 1973 Cessna 177B Cardinal to stay a pilot while taking up a new life as a lawyer.
Dallas-based aviation lawyer David Norton didn’t start off in the legal field. Norton, who grew up in Ohio—the birthplace of aviation—found his first love as a child in the form of a 1920s Ford Trimotor when his parents took him sightseeing at a local airport. That day set him on a flight path with stops in the Air Force and law school, where he found a new passion and a new approach to his love of aviation. Norton spoke with the Texas Bar Journal about the feeling of flying and why he thinks he’s the luckiest man in the world.
WHAT KIND OF PLANE DO YOU FLY?
I have a 1973 Cessna 177B Cardinal.
IS THAT A SINGLE ENGINE?
Yes, it’s a single-engine piston 4c. It’s kind of my fun toy. A way
to continue to stay a pilot after I became a lawyer.
WERE YOU A PILOT FULL-TIME BEFORE BECOMING A
LAWYER?
I actually never thought I was going to be a lawyer. I went to the
U.S. Air Force Academy and flew for the Air Force for nine years.
Most of that time I was a pilot for the Air Force, and one day
heard from a guy who was doing aviation law—it just kind of
clicked and I asked, “Wow, you can do that?” I checked it out. I
had reached a point in my Air Force career—at that time they
were looking to get rid of pilots—and was looking for a new
challenge and it really just struck my fancy. So I got out and got
into SMU Law School back in the early ‘90s. All I do is aviation
law. As I went through law school and got my first job, I realized
that I really wanted to do transactional and regulatory work,
which was not that common or popular at the time. It’s kind of
become the main area now, 20-25 years later. I started out and
became a transactional and regulatory lawyer for airplanes. I still
wanted to be a pilot. I was able to buy this airplane 20 years ago.
It’s a way for me to keep my finger on that first passion.
David Norton’s aviation career began in the Air Force, where he flew McDonnell Douglas DC-10s for nine years.
WENTY YEARS IS A WHILE TO HAVE A PLANE. WHAT GOES INTO
MAINTAINING IT FOR IT TO BE RELIABLE?
My airplane was built in 1973. The difference with an airplane
is, even for little airplanes, it’s very highly regulated and you
can’t work on one, generally, unless you’re an FAA-licensed
mechanic. There are very detailed records you have to keep on
it. You have to do an annual, at minimum, inspection where
they literally come in, take it apart, and check everything out;
there is a long list of things they have to look at, things that
have to be replaced or changed over time. So it’s very common
to have older airplanes that are still flying. At some point, I had
to repaint it, upholstery and everything. The inside is redone. I
just put a bunch of money on a new avionics panel. Even
though it’s a 1973 airplane, the equipment on board is state of
the art navigational equipment.
IS IT SAFE TO ASSUME YOU’RE INSTRUMENT RATED?
Yes. I’m actually an airline transfer pilot certified flight
instructor, multiengine instructor. I have kind of all the ratings
you can get from the FAA.
FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW, HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP WHAT
INSTRUMENT RATING ENTAILS?
An instrument rating means that if you have to fly through the
clouds or fly through the rains or around thunder storms—you
don’t go through thunder storms—you use the instrumentation
within the cockpit to tell you where you are both in space—are
you flying straight and level, are you turning or climbing or
descending—and where you are physically or geographically. It’s
possible to take off from an airport, climb into the clouds, fly
around for three or four hours, come in, and as long as the
weather is high enough in your landing location that you can
break out—it’s called breaking out and seeing on an airfield—
you can land and fly around all that time under instruments and never
see the ground.
HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE HOW YOUR CESSNA
FLIES?
It’s a single-engine piston airplane so they’re kind of loud. It’s
not air-conditioned. Little airplanes tend to be loud and
bumpy. If it’s a clear blue day with no wind, it can be absolutely
delightful but you kind of bounce around a little bit.
I used to fly [McDonnell Douglas] DC-10s for the Air Force
and that was like flying a house. It was so stable; it was like
flying a building. Flying my cardinal, you feel every little bump
and the wind. It’s more like driving a sports car—you’re really
in touch with your environment, if that makes sense.
HOW OFTEN ARE YOU FLYING?
I try and do around 100 hours a year, so a couple weekends a
month. I really keep it for fun. I’ll go out on a Saturday and fly
or maybe take a friend some place. Every once in a while, I’ll
do a cross-country trip to see friends and relatives. I don’t really
use it for any business flights. Little airplanes don’t deal with
weather as good as an airline and they don’t go as fast.
DO YOU HAVE ANY PLACES THAT STAND OUT? ANY PLACES YOU
LIKE TO SEE?
I grew up in Ohio, and I still have friends and family there.
Everyone once in a while, I’ll fly up to Ohio or Arkansas. There
are a couple places in Texas I’ve gone a weekend here or there.
WHAT’S IT LIKE WHEN YOU’RE FLYING?
Part of the reason I like flying is it’s an amazing sense of
freedom. You’re moving around in space in three dimensions.
Not only are you turning left and right but you’re going up and
down. It’s like swimming in that way I suppose. It’s a great
sense of freedom, but to do it well, you have to bond with your
airplane. You have to get a feel for your airplane. It’s kind of a
symphony sometimes when you’re up to speed, have a good
airplane, and are familiar with your airplane and you go fly. It’s
this great physical sense of freedom and control.
DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO ADD?
I tell people I’m the luckiest person in the world because I’m
passionate about airplanes and I’m passionate about the law.
How lucky am I that I got to combine two fields I love so
much? I love working with clients anywhere from big
companies that have airplanes to individual pilots who are
buying airplanes. It’s a lot of fun to be able to help people.
DO YOU THINK SOMEHOW YOUR LAW PRACTICE HAS EITHER GIVEN YOU
A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON FLYING OR TAUGHT YOU SOMETHING NEW?
Oh, I was amazed. When I went to law school, it so opened my
eyes. Flying around as a pilot, I needed to know the regulations
to a certain extent so I could follow the rules of the road so I
could fly, but I never understood where they came from or how
they fit into the bigger picture. That’s part of that interplay.
Being a lawyer, I can put into pilot words pilot verbiage to
pilots—here’s why this happens. And as a pilot, I can talk to
general counsel and say, “Gee, what you want to do makes sense
but it’s not going to work with airplanes.” It gave me the
crossvocabulary
to be able to mesh those two different worlds.
TBJ
