Lt. Commander Bill Goss, USN (Ret) is an internationally
known speaker and author. Enlisting in 1974,
Bill worked on underwater weapons in Europe
for the U.S. Navy until he was discharged
as a Mineman Second Class in 1977. A former New Jersey Golden Glove boxer, Bill was also the light-heavy weight boxing champion at the U.S. Naval Air Stations in Pensacola, Corpus Christi, and Jacksonville. After his enlisted tour of duty, Bill attended
Rutgers University on the GI Bill and earned
an MBA from the Southern New Hampshire University. Bill graduated Aviation Officer
Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida, and
earned his Navy Wings of Gold the following
year in Corpus Christi, Texas.
As a P-3
Orion pilot, Bill flew missions against
Soviet submarines in the North and South Atlantic
and Mediterranean and deployed to a very wide
variety of sites around the world. He became
an instructor pilot in the T-44 Pegasus and
then the Assistant Navigator of the nuclear
aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, deploying
throughout the Pacific from the Vinson's homeport
in the San Francisco Bay area. Bill and his
family returned to the east coast where he
flew P-3 Orions and a variety of other aircraft
while working for the admiral at NAS Jacksonville.
While there, Bill was diagnosed with a rare
form of cancer called amelanotic malignant
melanoma, had surgery, and retired from the
Navy. Bill is the author of The Luckiest
Unlucky Man Alive: A Wild Ride Overcoming
Life's Greatest Challenges -- And How You
Can Too. His second book, published by
Simon and Schuster's newest hardcover imprint,
Atria Books, is titled There's a Flying
Squirrel in My Coffee: Overcoming Cancer With
the Help of My Pet.
Bill is a contributing writer to many other
books including the New York Times bestseller,
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul. Bill's life story has been featured on national
and international radio shows, and in publications
such as the Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles
Times, New Jersey Star Ledger, The Dallas
Morning News, The St. Petersburg Times,
and Maxim Magazine.
A motivational and inspirational speaker,
Bill is featured every month on the Discovery
Channel's Animal Planet. Bill's mailing address
is:
Bill Goss International
P.O. Box 7060
Orange Park, FL 32073
Meet Bob Simpson, Director of General Aviation at Cecil Field Airport in Jacksonville, Florida. Bob is a retired Navy Captain who used to be my wing commander when I flew P-3 Orion aircraft in the early 90s. After retirement, Bob became instrumental in the conversion of Naval Air Station Cecil Field (home of the U.S. Navy's east coast FA-18 Hornet and S-3 Viking squadrons) into a civilian airfield, which was all part of the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) round of military base closures to save taxpayer dollars. NAS Cecil Field was also the airport I took off from during my last flight as a Navy pilot - on a flight in a dual seat FA-18 Hornet in which a friend of mine took me supersonic - a very memorial flight for a P-3 Orion pilot like myself, where breaking the sound barrier was never an option.
Soon after the fifth anniversary of NAS Cecil Field becoming a public airport, I sat with Bob Simpson in his office on the second floor of the control tower building (the former commanding officer's office) to ask him one question...but it was one long question.
Bob Simpson and Bill Goss with overhead photo of Cecil Field Airport
"Bob, what are the five things you want people to know about the former NAS Cecil Field?" Bob Simpson's reply follows.
First, I'd like people to know that Cecil Field Airport is a huge facility that anyone can now use. It has four tremendous runways, one of which is one of the longest runways in the country at 12,500 feet long and 200 feet wide. When in an emergency situation in the skies over northeast Florida or southeast Georgia, when a pilot is looking for a very long runway to increase the chances of a successful emergency landing, I want him or her to know that there are no longer any restrictions to a civilian pilot landing here, in either an emergency or a non-emergency situation, because we are now a 100% public use airfield. From a tiny Cessna to a giant Boeing 767, we welcome you with open arms and we hope you will make Cecil Field Airport a routine stop when visiting Jacksonville and the surrounding areas...and you're especially welcome during this year's Superbowl, right here in sunny Jacksonville. Also, our new FBO (Fixed Base Operator) is Signature Flight Support, one of the largest and most reputable providers of services to pilots and their aircraft in the world. They'll give you the kind of service you want and deserve.
Pilot's eye view of Cecil Field Airport looking down the 12500 foot long runway
Two, there's some amazing history to this very unique airport. In 1943, this piece of property was named NAS Cecil Field in honor of Commander Henry Barton Cecil, a Navy pilot who died in 1933 in the crash of the famous dirigible, Akron. Over the next 50 years, NAS Cecil Field was one of the most important training grounds for Naval aviators who flew during WWII, Korea, Vietnam, a variety of conflicts throughout the Cold War, and during the first Gulf War of 1991. In 1952 NAS Cecil Field was designated as only one of two master jet bases on the east coast. It became like a second home to A-7 Corsair pilot who later transitioned to FA-18 Hornets, as well as to other aircraft carrier based jets, including the S-3 Viking. In 1993, NAS Cecil Field was recommended for closure by the President's Commission on Base Realignment and Closure, and it was officially closed by the Navy on September 30, 1993. The following day it reopened for business as Cecil Field Airport for public and commercial aviation use. It also serves as a general aviation reliever airport, helping to relieve the aircraft traffic congestion from nearby Jacksonville International Airport, located roughly 15 miles northeast of Cecil Field Airport.
The third thing I'd want people to know is this: that although we are now a 100% public airport, we are still very involved with the military, with national defense, and with homeland security. U.S. Customs has a squadron of P-3 Orion surveillance airplanes located on our grounds and the U.S. Coast Guard has a squadron of Augusta 109 helicopters stationed here for search and rescue and for drug interdiction missions. Also the Florida Army National Guard operates a variety of helicopters from Cecil Field Airport, many of which are currently deployed in Afghanistan. The National Guard is using the hangar space that was earlier used by Navy S-3 squadrons for storage and maintenance.
Navy P-3 Orion doing low approach over Cecil Field Airport
Next, we're also involved with some major defense contractors. Boeing is presently occupying three huge hangars that formerly were used for maintaining the Navy's east coast fleet of FA-18 Hornets. Boeing now leases this space from us to overhaul and repair Navy and Marine Corp FA-18s, Coast Guard and Air Force C-130s, and Navy E-6 strategic communications aircraft (often referred to as TACAMO airplanes...from the acronym "Take Charge and Move Out"). Furthermore, Embraer, one of the four remaining manufacturers of commercial aircraft in the world, has chosen Cecil Field Airport as a site to locate one of their assembly facilities, so there will be lots of new jobs available right here for people with aircraft industry related skills. Construction on Embraer's new hangar is commencing in 2005. And, in regards to advancing your education to get a job here, there's FCCJ (Florida Community College of Jacksonville) which has a fully licensed aviation mechanics school here, teaching Airframes and Powerplant (A&P) courses and providing trained A&P mechanics to several of the aviation companies located here.
Fifth, and finally, we've got huge plans for the future. Presently, we are in the process of tripling the size of one of our biggest hangars (from 100,000 square feet to over 300,000 square feet) so that Flightstar Inc. can maintain and overhaul very large commercial wide-body aircraft, and they'll be hiring many people also. It's all very exciting, and I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of the explosive new growth at Cecil Field Airport. So Bill, please welcome any and all pilots and their airplanes - large or small - to come visit us here in northeast Florida, anytime - day or night. They'll get to experience the great service of our wonderful new FBO, Signature Flight Support, or they just might want to see what's going on here now at the former NAS Cecil Field...especially if they're former military aviators who logged some flight time here in the past.
Thank you, Bob...I'm sure there are quite a few airline pilots out there, former naval aviators who did many a "touch and go" on those giant runways just outside your office window. And it wouldn't surprise me in the least if someday one of them swooped right out of the sky for just one more "field carrier landing" at their old military stomping ground, now northeast Florida's newest and fastest growing centers of aviation, Cecil Field Airport.
