All Four Are Pilots For Southwest

One of Southwest's original pilots and his three sons ... all also Southwest pilots ... had the rare privilege of taking one of the carrier's airliners on its final flight.

What made the flight even more significant is that the eldest of the four ... Doyle Vaughan, age 83, had been the pilot when Southwest had taken delivery of the 737 from Boeing in 1993, and two of his sons, Larry, now 59 and Lynn, 58, were with him on the delivery flight.

Shortly after that, the three Vaughans, along with youngest son Kevin, now 45, were in the cockpit when Doyle made his final flight for the airline as he hit the mandatory retirement age of 60 in July of 1993, according to the Amarillo (TX) Globe-News.

Doyle had been an instructor helicopter pilot during the Vietnam war. He later flew as a corporate pilot before becoming one of the first pilots to fly for Southwest in 1971. Since then, his sons have all followed in his footsteps.

On its final flight to Tucson, where it will be dismantled, N347 had just eight people on board ... the four Vaughan pilots, three friends and a videographer.

The four have a wishlist of things they would like to have from the airplane as it is being taken apart. Kevin, the youngest son, said he would like to have the captain's yoke. "The first Southwest pilot to touch that yoke was my father,” he said. “I was the last to touch it. It was an amazing day, an amazing day."

(Image provided by Southwest Airlines. (L-R) Larry, Kevin, Doyle and Lynn Vaughan)

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