Hall of Fame--Gillispie - A Survivor

BY ERIK CAGLE

It didn't take long for C. Stephenson Gillispie Jr. to appreciate the importance of swift and certain decision making. On one occasion, his life and those of several other people depended on it.

Gillispie developed a love of flying in his twenties. During that period, he was piloting a single-engine aircraft out of St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, when the engine stalled at 600 feet during takeoff. It would take approximately one minute for the plane to return to earth.