~ IN MEMORY ~
WA/DL Capt. Michael “Mike” Keith Magnell
July 30, 1946 – September 23, 2025
Michael Keith Magnell was born on July 30, 1946 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He passed on September 23, 2025 in Orange County, California with his wife Iris and nephews Neal and Jim by his side. He lived a full and exciting life doing what he loved – flying.
Mike went to grade school in Long Beach, California and high school at Western High School in Anaheim, California. He earned his bachelor’s degree at California State College in Long Beach. It was there that he decided what he wanted to do for a career – he was going to fly.
In 1966 Mike received his first flying lesson, and it became a lifelong passion. He quickly earned his private pilot, commercial, and instructor ratings in Long Beach. He taught other students how to fly from 1969 to 1971 before taking his first job hauling passengers and freight in Alaska. Mike was off to become an Alaska bush pilot!
Mike moved to Teller, Alaska in 1972. At the time about 200 people lived there, and air taxi owner Jim Isabell broke his arm while trying to hand prop an airplane. He needed a pilot, and at the age of 26 Mike was his guy. Mike wrote in his pilot logbook on March 14, 1972: “1st Flight in Alaska”. He flew a Helio Courier airplane from village to village and to Nome for a year.
On a chance encounter, he walked into Nome’s grocery store (at the time called the NC Store) and met Iris Foster. Iris would later recall that she heard there was a handsome pilot in town who had come all the way from Los Angeles. He asked her out, and Iris being shy said: “No.” Iris’ brother Richard had a get together in an airplane hangar shortly afterwards, and both Mike and Iris were re-acquainted. Richard sat between them mischievously chaperoning the event, and six months later they were married.
They lived in Fairbanks in 1973 where Mike flew for Pacific Alaska Airlines flying fire patrol in an Aero Commander. Then he got his big break and landed a job with Western Airlines in California. Mike and Iris built a house and a life together in Laguna Hills, California. They even raised a wonderful dog named Bandit to sit in as co-pilot from time to time.
In their spare time, they enjoyed many memorable trips to places like Elvis’ Graceland and to the resort and hidden bunker for Congress called the Greenbriar. Internationally, they made a special trip to visit their nephew in England and took many trips to Mexico. One of Mike’s favorite trips was flying family and friends to Catalina Island in his own airplane.
Mike particularly loved spending his vacations in Alaska flying for Foster Aviation in Nome. The airline was started by Iris’ father Willie and operated by her brother Richard. Mike made many trips out to the Foster gold mine at Hannum Creek. One of his fondest memories was of smelling freshly baked bread and blueberry pie baked by Iris’ mother, Jane.
Western Airlines was bought out by Delta Airlines, and Mike worked his way up to captain. Not one to sit still, Mike’s idea of retirement was starting his own airplane ferrying business called “Transoceanic Aircraft Ferry.” He flew over 200 airplanes all over the world to places like Senegal, Brazil, Namibia, Afghanistan, New Caledonia and Christmas Island. On one trip over the vast Pacific Ocean, Mike encountered mechanical issues and almost deployed the airplane’s parachute system.
One of Mike’s more unique experiences was flying jets out of Kabul, Afghanistan for Kam Air. He said whenever they flew into Baghdad, Iraq they could not land with the standard gradual descending glide path. Instead, to avoid potential rocket attacks, they did steep corkscrew descents.
Mike loved flying the Cessna 180’s and 185’s he owned. And when the opportunity to buy the Helio Courier airplane that he flew in Teller back in the 70’s came up, he snatched it right up. It brought back a lot of good memories of the passengers he spent countless hours flying from village to village. And it brought a good laugh, too. When Mike had the helio restored, the airplane mechanic told him that there was hydraulic fluid all over under the floor of the plane. The fluid was in places that it should not have been. Upon further inspection, Mike said it was seal oil. Cans of it were notoriously known to tip over, and decades later it was still there!
Mike’s contribution, passion, and dedication were recognized with two honors at the biggest gathering of aviation enthusiasts – the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The FAA presented Mike with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. And AOPA (the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) awarded him with a 50-year pin. For Mike, it was one of the happiest moments of his life.
He is preceded in death by his mother Peggy Sax and father Marion Magnell.
He is survived by his wife Iris (Foster) Magnell, sister Jackie Magnell-Thrasher, brother Kent Magnell, and many nieces and nephews.
Mike will make another flight to Hannum Creek, Alaska where his ashes will be buried at the family plot. Alaska is where he began his commercial flying career, and he will continue to fly the skies with the people he befriended both past and present over the past 50 years.