Thrilling Skies: A Pilot Who Loves Storms
Wayne Sand, 85, is a Vietnam veteran and seasoned pilot who has spent his life soaring where most would turn away. From the moment he first saw a crop‑duster low over Montana’s grass airstrip, he knew his future lay in the sky. A young man with little money, Sand worked any job he could find and spent nights watching planes glide above his hometown of Valier.
Early Mentorship
A local farmer, Ora Lohse, became Sand’s mentor. He taught the teenager how to fly while Sand helped with chores in the fields. This apprenticeship earned him a commercial pilot’s license and flight instructor credentials—all while working under Lohse’s guidance. The farmer’s generosity opened doors that would shape Sand’s career.
Academic and Military Foundations
After finishing college with a degree in math, physics, and chemistry, Sand joined Colorado State University to help develop cloud‑seeding devices for the U.S. Forest Service. In 1964, at age 23, he flew a North American T‑6 over eastern Colorado to test a device aimed at reducing hail. He spent two summers flying through storms before the draft pulled him into military service.
Sand’s naval training led him to fly the Grumman A‑6 intruder, a bomber capable of all‑weather missions. He flew over Laos during the Vietnam War, hunting trucks in jungle night raids and performing carrier take‑offs in total darkness. “Being launched off a carrier with a full load is like being on the edge of a stall at 75 feet above water,” he recalled. Five years later, he moved to South Dakota to test an armored T‑28 Trojan in heavy hail and thunderstorms, braving quarter‑inch hailstones and the violent rattling of the aircraft.
Focus on Icing
In 1976, Sand earned a meteorology degree and joined the University of Wyoming’s doctoral program. A flight over Lake Tahoe in bad weather revealed supercooled large droplets—ice that can form on aircraft surfaces and alter icing behavior. This discovery sparked a lifelong research focus on aircraft icing. He wrote the book Aviate, Navigate, Communicate, sharing lessons from his daring flights.
Later Career and Honors
After twelve years at Wyoming, Sand started a consulting firm in 1992 to investigate weather‑related aviation accidents. He now teaches aerospace engineering students at the University of Kansas and offers icing courses worldwide. In February, the FAA honored him with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot award for over fifty years of safe flight. Though he has not flown in a cockpit recently, Sand reflects on his career with gratitude for the crop‑duster pilot who first believed in him.
