What's The Real Story With Clay Lacy

[User546]

From what I've heard, pilots either love him or hate him, not much of an in between. I get the impression he's not very liked around the industry.

So what's the real story on this guy, and why is he not liked if that happens to be the case?

 

[avbug]

I don't know about others, but I've found him to be very courteous and helpful in the past. I think part of the response you'll see among others is jelousy. He's undertaken some publicity acts in the past that some see as grandstanding, and he's got a lot of paper types...got the type without operational experience in it. He's not the only one to collect types, and in his case, he did a lot of it as part of a regular column describing various type aircraft. Probably as good a person as any to compare one aircraft to another. He runs a successful charter business, a very successful aerial photography business (you've see a lot of his work in the movies, and on television).

Generally they say it's best to avoid tearing a man down until you've walked a mile in his shoes, and in the case of Clay Lacy, I doubt I'll be making that walk in the next ten or twenty years. Until then, I won't be one badmouthing him.

 

[Cardinal]

He scabbed at United in 1985, that likely contributes to his negative reputation.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

Everything here that is said about Clay Lacy is true. You be your own judge. I know him because I went through DC-10 school with him. That was before the strike. There are issues that mean something to people. Personally, I think he has helped a lot of people. I would be pleased to sit down and have dinner with him.

He does love aviation otherwise, like most retired captains they would just fade away and would never touch an airplane again.

The part about his lieing about his age to be #1 is not really true. He lied about his age to get hired when he was actually too young. Then when he was approaching what was suppost to be his 60th birthday he confessed to his lie 39 years before. So he really told the truth to become #1.

 

[sydeseet]

I met him once at his FBO in Seattle. He saw me re-adjusting the GPU connection and asked me if everything was alright and could he get someone to help me. That left a favorable impression on me that he truly understood the customer service business and didn't consider himself to uppity to get his hands dirty.

While I don't like what he did at UAL, or his articles for that matter, I think he's a pretty stand up guy.