News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Local author and pilot, William Kelley, sits beside his Wright Brothers “Master Pilot” Award and a photo of his plane. Kelley has written many columns for The Alpena News, and has just released his first book, “Wind socks, Grass strips, and Tail-draggers,” available for $20 at The Alpena News. Kelley was a science teacher for 32 years and has been a pilot since 1966. He lives in Herron on the family farm where he was born and raised.

ALPENA — Local author and pilot, William “Bill” Kelley, has written his first book, “Wind socks, Grass strips, and Tail-draggers,” covering the exhilaration of flying, and the many adventures he’s had as a pilot.

The book is available for $20 at The Alpena News.

Kelley was a science teacher for 32 years and has been a pilot since 1966. He lives in Herron on the family farm where he was born and raised.

The book is the first in a series Kelley plans to publish.

“It’s from when I first started flying until I went to Alaska,” Kelley said.

Kelley has flown to Alaska three different times in small airplanes.

“I’ve flown from coast to coast,” Kelley said. “The next year, after I got back from Alaska, I went out west and I flew across the Grand Canyon … And that’s one of the things I’ll be writing about next.”

He has also flown over Niagara Falls.

“Back in the first or second year that I was flying, I flew out to the east and flew over Niagara Falls in the wintertime,” Kelley said. “I took a lot of pictures.”

He has also flown a different plane down to Key West, Florida, then up to Fairbanks, Alaska.

“That airplane went several thousand miles,” he said.

He explained that a small airplane can go about four-and-a-half hours before it needs to be refueled.

“In that time, I can fly in the (Cessna) 140 about 300 miles,” Kelley said. “With the other planes, I can go a little farther.”

He started flying in April of 1966, and he got his private pilot license on Oct. 1, 1966.

Kelley explained why he likes flying.

“You can get up above the earth, and you can see how something a whole lot greater than us has put it all together,” Kelley said. “It’s almost like a religious experience, in some senses, because the things you see make you think about what is really important in life, where you fit into this big, important picture, and that’s the heart of what I’m talking about when I write.”

He enjoys the solitude of flying, but he has also met many people in his travels.

“I met so many interesting people that I realized that a lot of these flights weren’t just for that beauty or that experience — it was for the people,” Kelley said. “I have really met some neat individuals and spent some time with them.”

Kelley has always enjoyed writing. He has written many columns for The Alpena News.

“I think I wrote my first little story, probably when I was in seventh grade,” he recalled. “I’ve taken several writing classes. I’ve written several short stories and poems. I play the guitar, so I’ve written several songs. Some for when I’m out performing, and some just for me.”

When he writes, he does it in style.

“I love to write with a fountain pen,” Kelley said. “That’s my favorite. It’s almost like a catharsis, writing with a pen, seeing the ink flow out and write words that I put on paper.”

He said writing is a process, but getting those words on paper is the first step.

“I have to rework some of what I write to make it flow properly, and make it sound right,” Kelley said. “If you just put it down, and rework it later, you have to get the idea out. Sometimes, as you’re trying to write an idea properly, you lose the essence or the feeling of it toward the end of that idea.”

He has been keeping a journal for many years.

“I started the journal because of flying,” he said. “I would see things, I would write down what I saw, and where I saw it, and then I would also write, if I got an idea about a story or something, I would write them down. And that started me carrying a notebook, always. Even around the farm, I carry file cards with a pen or a pencil, so I can jot down ideas.”

He said he took a lot of pictures while flying so he could incorporate them into the classroom.

“I taught science, and there’s so much science out there, when you get above the earth,” Kelley said. “The forests, and the plains, and the rivers. Everything paints this big picture.”

He taught from 1965 to 1997 at Chippewa Valley School District near Mt. Clemens.

“I’ve been interested in flight since the time I was a little kid,” he said. “I’d watch the birds, just watch how they would land and take off.”

The Air National Guard would practice above the farm, which fascinated him.

“One time, we were picking stones out in the field,” Kelley said. “My dad, and my sister, and I. And those planes went over, and I just stopped working and I just watched those airplanes do their maneuvers … And my dad said, ‘Hey, get back to work! You’re not going to make a living watching those airplanes.”