Delta pilot’s favorite place was in the clouds

Career flier even built a stunt plane in his basement.

He loved flying. In his spare time, he built a Christen Eagle stunt biplane in his basement. Anything involving aviation, John Richards could not get enough of it.

He spent 35 years as a career pilot with Delta Airlines, and also spent nine years as an instructor in the training department.

John Richards died July 10. His memorial service was July 14 at Roswell Funeral Home, and his funeral service was at St. Andrews Catholic Church.

When his wife, Bernadette, met John, she was intrigued by his curiosity about planes. That’s all he seemed to talk about, she remembers. “Because he was so interested in flying at the time, I think that’s what attracted me to him,” she said.

“I think he saw a movie with John Wayne, and it just went to his heart,” she said about why John loved flying so much.

One experience his wife said she won’t forget is flying across the country in the Christen Eagle that John had built. The plane was being built for an owner in Oregon, so after he finished it, John and Bernadette flew it there.

“We had a bird’s-eye view of the United States going over the Rockies,” she said.

His daughter, Lisa Vogt, said, “He took aerobatic lessons, and before my mom agreed to fly across the country with him, she was able to learn how to land the plane. She never got her flying license, per se,” but learned how to land it “just in case anything happened to dad.”

John had some stunt-pilot friends who flew with the Blue Angels. Sometimes he would get the opportunity to fly with them, and one day John invited Bernadette to ride along.

“I was sitting up in the front,” she recalls. “All of a sudden, I lost the other airplane.” She asked John, “Where is he?” John told her to look up.

She saw a maneuver that looked like it was pulled right out of the movie “Top Gun.” “And I looked up, and he was upside down,” she said. “We were right-side-up. It quite unnerved me.”

John’s love for flying inspired his whole family to find work in the aviation industry. Bernadette was a flight attendant. His son is a pilot. Lisa was a flight attendant. Their cousin is a Navy pilot and was also an aircraft carrier commander. In addition to being a pilot, John modeled for a Delta ad and was later approached to do some more airplane-based publication modeling.

During his off time, John was an avid fan of sailing, and enjoyed playing golf.

Hans Damp, a friend from Cherokee Town and Country Club, said, “He always was easygoing and enjoyed himself on the golf course.” And he stayed in shape: Some say he was beating much younger racquetball players well into his 70s.

Survivors include his wife; daughter Lisa Vogt ( John); son John W. Richards III; grandchildren Allison and Jack Vogt, and Sarah, Charlotte and Liam Richards; and brother Paul Richards ( Judy). In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Visiting Nurse, Hospice Atlanta Center. www.vnhs.org.