That pilot could be Dan Sullivan, an Ontonagon business owner who has been flying passengers all over the world for 33 years for Delta Air Lines.

Sullivan soloed for the first time at 16 years old. He got his private pilot’s license two years later.

“My best childhood friend took a couple flights with his dad in a private airplane, then came running over to my house saying, ‘This is the coolest thing ever! We need to learn how to fly!'” Sullivan said. “We each went out and bought little aviation radios at Radio Shack, rode out six miles to the local airport and would listen to the control tower and watch planes take off and land for hours.”

The first airplane he soloed in was a two-seater Cessna 150. The Delta Air Lines jet he now pilots is an Airbus A-330 that holds 300 passengers.

Courtesy photo Delta Air Lines pilot and Ontonagon resident Dan Sullivan stands with his Cessna plane that he uses for “fun flying.”

What got Sullivan into wanting to be a commercial airline pilot?

“I always liked to fly, and thought that being paid to fly airplanes would be a pretty good gig,” he said. “But I really didn’t have my sights set on an airline career early in my life. I did realize that flying commercially would require me to take a lot of small steps forward in order to attain my goals.

“So I only looked at what I needed to accomplish next, then worked to accomplish that step. At some point, I looked back and realized that I’d come pretty far from where I started as a student pilot. It just took simple patience and persistence to get here.”

Sullivan explained the training that was required to become a pilot for Delta Air Lines.

“As for training, pilots get very used to being intensively trained and evaluated in their flying knowledge and skills. We train aggressively in flight simulators, both for normal procedures and abnormal/emergencies,” Sullivan said. “The simulators are very realistic and serve their purpose.”

Courtesy photo When Dan Sullivan is not flying for Delta Air Lines, he takes his family flying in their four-seat Cessna. From left, family dog, Bean, is held by Donna Sullivan as the Sullivans’ daughter, Piper, smiles in the family’s plane.

Sullivan has spent years flying all over the world, from Mexico to Canada, all the way to Europe and Japan.

Out of all the airports he has landed at and taken off from, there’s one airport that particularly stood out to Sullivan.

“One airport that always amazed me was Kansai Airport in Osaka, Japan, an airport I used to fly the Boeing 747 into. (It was) built 100 percent on a manmade reef, or island, on Osaka Bay. The engineers designed an island that’s roughly two-and-a-half miles long by one-and-a-half miles wide, accessed by a long bridge over the bay to get there. Incredible feats of engineering and construction.”

What about the other side of the coin?

“A few of the more challenging airports to fly into include Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National, New York’s LaGuardia and Chicago’s Midway airports with their relatively short runways and dense population near the runways.”

It’s not only Sullivan who has had an interesting career, as his wife, Donna, also did some notable work for law enforcement agencies.

“Donna grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida, and worked as a police officer there for 20 years before moving on to the FBI’s Tampa Division in counterterrorism,” he said. “She retired several years ago after a very interesting and full career. Then she moved to Ontonagon.”

She has joined him on some flights.

“I often take Donna flying with me on my trips when there are seats available for her. Our two favorite places to go are Honolulu, Hawaii, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands,” he said. “Interestingly, when I fly to Amsterdam, our routing frequently takes us directly over Ontonagon. This is on our way up to the North Atlantic by way of Greenland and Iceland.

“More than once, when she knows I’m coming, Donna has been known to wave at me from outside our River Street home as I pass overhead at 33,000 feet.”

The Sullivans also fly a four-seat plane out of the Ontonagon Airport.

“We have a beautiful little four-place Cessna that serves as our ‘fun flying’ airplane.”

They take their daughter Piper and their dog for flights on the Cessna.

However, finding the time to continue flying for Delta Air Lines and their own Cessna is getting more difficult now that they have opened a new business in Ontonagon.

“About eight years ago I bought an old building on Ontonagon’s River Street and began the long and arduous task of refurbishing it,” he said. “Last week, we opened for the first time to the public. Our business is called Olde Swing Bridge Roasters and we are located at 533 River St. in Ontonagon,” Sullivan said. “We roast coffee on premises as well as have a beautiful 1800s-themed gift shop. Later this summer, following completion of our patio area, we will offer a full barista bar operating out of our coffee trailer that will be situated adjacent to our building and patio.”

Right now only the gift shop is open. The Olde Swing Bridge Roasters offers decanters filled with locally roasted brewed coffees.

“We have very unique gifts that can’t be found anywhere else in the area,” he said.

Does this new business mean Sullivan will be retiring from Delta Air Lines?

“Someday I’ll retire from flying commercially and run the business full time,” he said. “Our goal is to grow, to make our wonderful coffee well known, and to contribute to the resurgence of downtown Ontonagon. I truly love flying, though, and will probably continue as long as I am able.”

One of the concerns in the airline business is the number of pilots who are retiring. Sullivan encourages young people to look into becoming a commercial pilot.

However, it can be a challenge “due to the amount of training and experience required for the job, along with the need to invest significant amounts of money in the development of their skills early in their educational career,” he said.

The military has historically served as a training pipeline for airline pilots over the past decades, Sullivan said.

“However, the combination of reduced military pilot numbers today, and the fact that many military pilots are making a career of their positions, has resulted in somewhat of a tighter labor market for trained airline pilots, and experienced civilian pilots are in high demand,” he said. “Older pilots like myself are retiring in large numbers, and there just aren’t as many young people interested in the career field as in past generations.

“I’d highly encourage young people to discover and research aviation as a career. It’s interesting, and for those with passion and determination, very rewarding.”

You never know, one of the recent graduates may give their name over the intercom as you are on your way to the Netherlands. Then you’ll smile and tell the passenger next to you, “I know the pilot, he’s from my hometown!”