NAMPA, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
On Wednesday, 85-year-old Frank Brady flew for what could be the last time.
There are not enough words to describe the atmosphere at Nampa Airport on that cloudy morning, Brady’s daughter, Mary Pera, said.
“He was up there just like he would have been before,” Pera said.
Brady has lived in Idaho for 15 years, and got to his aviation passion later than most. After years of wanting to fly, Brady received his pilot’s license when he was 60 and went to school to be an airplane mechanic.
Before that, Brady was a sheet metal worker. He came to Idaho from San Francisco, California, where he worked on air conditioning units.
Second careers, according to Pera, run in the family.
Pera recently became a flight attendant for SkyWest Airlines and her brother, John Brady, began working as a farmer after years of being a sheet metal worker.
“It has to be the right time in life,” Pera said. “It doesn’t matter what age as long as you do it.”
Their paths, though winding, were meant to be that way, Pera said. Her father’s various specialties are exactly what led him to helping other people.
“He was a giver,” Pera said. “He would drop anything to help anybody.”
Brady has corticobasal degeneration, a form of frontotemporal degeneration that impacts the ability to think, remember or reason. The degeneration has made it almost impossible for Brady to speak.
“He worked hard his whole life to make a good life for my mom,” John Brady said. “He was always studying to better himself. Constantly involved in learning.”
When Pera thinks of her dad, she remembers his life of service.
“My brother and I, we just had the world’s greatest parents,” Pera said. “We did, we had an amazing childhood … even our neighborhood friends expressed that our parents were always a good role model for them.”
Not too long ago, Brady flew deaf and blind children in his plane with a group of retired men. He fixed peoples’ furnaces, cars and cleaned out their gutters.
This final flight stands as a testament that what goes around, comes back around, Pera said.
“Everybody really wanted this for Frank,” Pera said. “My heart was just full of appreciation for all the people that came together for him.”
After their mother passed away from Alzheimer’s in June, Pera and her brother are focused on making sure they do everything possible to make their dad’s life better — even if it means making their lives more complicated.
This time, it meant going to local pilot and real estate agent Stacey Budell, and asking for her to give Brady his last flight.
Budell has known Pera for two decades. Budell sold Brady’s home, which he had built complete with its own airstrip and hangar. Naturally, when Brady made it known that he wanted to fly again, Pera called Budell.
“It’s emotional but it’s also really gratifying, you know, to be able to do that for somebody,” Budell said. “He’s been a pilot for a long time, so for him not being able to fly when he used to fly whenever he wanted to it’s — you’ve got to find somebody that’s willing to take them and just do one last trip.”
Budell flew Brady over his old home so he could see where he used to head straight for the sky.
“I could tell it was a lot, emotionally, for him,” Budell said. “He teared up a little when we got over there.”
At the same time, Budell could see him lighting up, his blue eyes bright and his smile wide — something that only comes from an adoration of aviation.
“He knows what’s going on, but he can’t say the words to tell you out loud,” Budell said. “You could see it in his eyes.”
Budell let Brady hold the yoke, the airplane’s steering wheel, during the flight. He listened to the radio, too, getting a taste of the aviation lingo he was a part of for so many years.
He didn’t let go of the yoke until they had landed.
There’s a freedom that comes with flying — seeing that passion come back to Brady was enough to make Budell’s day brighter, she said.
“I hope to keep doing it as long as I can,” she said.
Wednesday’s flight was not Budell’s first time piloting a last flight, and it won’t be the last. Since she joined the aviation community in 1992, Budell has tried to give back to people with her plane.
Next Thursday, Budell will pilot another final flight for a 97-year-old woman who served in the Air Force. Budell is also planning on instructing Pera’s son, who is currently in ground school, to become a pilot. One day, he’ll fly Brady’s plane.
“Flying is more than a passion, it’s almost spiritual,” Budell said. “You can get up and get away from everything.”
After the flight was completed and Brady was back in his wheelchair, Pera held him tightly and her dad whispered his gratitude quietly.
“Thank you. I love you.”
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist:
