For more than two decades pilots Don and Debbie Stewart have shared breathtaking images of the verdant Palos Verdes Peninsula taken from the cockpit of their 21st century composite Diamond Star DA 40 XLS plane with close friends and the Palos Verdes Facebook community; now, they are sharing these stunning photographs with the wider South Bay community they love.

As long time residents who have lived in three out of four cities on the Peninsula, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, and Palos Verdes Estates, Don and Debbie have witnessed the Peninsula’s evolution from land, sea and sky. They fly accompanied by their 14-year old rescue, Lucky Dog, who has logged 700 flight hours, knows over 200 words and phrases, and flies unfazed at any altitude.

Don says, “I have three passions: the ocean, bass guitar, and flying. Debbie’s passion has always been animals; we support the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro plus other various animal rescue groups, and feline rescue at the airport.”

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

In the 1930’s, Don’s father was in the Palos Verdes Sea Scout troop led by the same Mr. Fields, a Lunada Bay resident, who donated the Deagan Celesta Chimes to Lunada Bay Elementary School. Mr. Field’s Sea Scouts, renamed Sea Explorers in 1949, descended Lunada Bay’s steep cliffs to go fishing and diving for lobster in the morning, sailing in their home-built boats in the afternoon, and to camp out under the stars at night. Thanks to his Dad , Don learned to sail at age seven, has been on the water ever since, and as a teenager surfed South Bay’s waves.

These high school sweethearts were married at the storied La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes Estates. La Venta Inn’s magnificent northern view follows the coastline from Redondo Beach to Santa Monica Bay and beyond, tracing the same beloved coastline they fly today. Originally built by two sets of brothers, the Pierpoint brothers of Davis and Davis with landscape design by the Olmsted brothers, the Inn has been frequented by a long list of notables.

Don and Debbie have been a perfect match for half-a-century; however, twenty-two years ago when Don announced his desire to take up flying, Debbie said, “Okay. I have three rules: No old aircraft, only new aircraft; no tandem seating aircraft, I want to sit side by side in the plane; and, no acrobatic flying, none of that.” to which Don quickly agreed.

First Solo Flight, Torrance Airport 2003

When asked for the best aeronautical advice he’d received during flight training, Don shared the following instruction from his flight instructor, now a captain for the airlines: “When you're flying, always fly as it there are 100 passengers sitting behind you, and the cabin crew is getting ready to serve them dinner. “

MISSED CONNECTIONS

Did you become a pilot for business reasons? Don explains, “The why is, we had a business in Las Vegas for the consumer electronics show so we went to LAX a few months after 9/11 had happened, so security was tighter, and for some reason, maybe I looked like someone, they would pull me aside and want to go through my luggage. So we missed the first plane to Las Vegas, and long story short, I think we got to Las Vegas six or seven hours after we were supposed to and missed an important business meeting. “

So you missed an important event? Don replied, “Yes, and I said to Debbie, if we had our own airplane, we'd be there by now. I've been thinking about flying my whole life and I don’t want to be 85 sitting on a bench gazing up every time a plane goes over thinking, wish I could, should I? And so, anyway, that's how it all started. “

Don continues, “I did a lot of regional travel for business and this plane is a great plane for that, and if I'm going to New York or whatever, a commercial makes more sense. This is a very quiet airplane because it's a 21st century plane and it meets even the European noise standards.”

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Debbie encountered roadblocks rather than encouragement on her own journey up to the skies. “Back in the day, when I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. In the sixth grade we had to do a vocational notebook and in it I said I want to be an astronaut. My teacher looked at me and said: now, now, come on, don’t be unrealistic, how about an airline stewardess. That's what they used to do to us. So I did my paper on airline stewardess, not an astronaut, because she was very insistent that I wasn't going to go anywhere with being an astronaut. “

Debbie’s Dad, an aerospace engineer, always wanted to fly and started to build a plane in his garage. Then, in 1956, he rented a “tail dragger” for his first solo. Debbie explains, “The wind when you fly your very first solo in a tail dragger airplane should be near perfect, not a side crosswind as it was, that sent him into a ground loop when landing, he did not crash, but my Mom cried, “You’re going to make me a widow, and your kids orphans! No! I don’t want you flying.” That night my Dad returned to the garage and made the plane disappear. “

Debbie repeated family flying history by ending her own successful solo, but with perfect landings, and as she first took to the air she said, “Here’s for you Dad.”

ON A MISSION

Don remembers, “Covid put a lockdown in place and everybody was nervous. Everything was closed wherever you would fly, and in order to stay proficient at flying, you’ve got to be doing it; so, Debbie and I would go up at least once a week, sometimes twice a week. My interest in local history created our mission: document the coastline of the Palos Verdes

Malaga Cove During Lockdown

Peninsula and the South Bay. I’d noticed that there really weren't a lot of recent high resolution photos of Palos Verdes.”

Don noted the biggest change topographical change seen on the peninsula in twenty plus years of flying.

This spectacular comparison shows Portuguese Bend’s changing topography with its rising sea floor.

PARTNERSHIP IN THE AIR

While Don is busy photographing, Debbie, who is also an FAA Certified Advanced Ground Instructor, is in charge of the flight deck and flying the aircraft. Don said, “My eyes are not where they should be so you need another pilot really to achieve the shots you want.” Debbie adds, “There are three pilots aboard”, and after a pause continues, “we also have our auto pilot. “ For just a moment there it sounded like Lucky Dog was the third pilot… Don drolly replied, “Well, he hasn't been able to reach the pedals.”

Los Verdes Golf Course and Hawthorne Blvd

Don states, “I can zoom my camera so it looks closer than we are, but the difficulty in capturing these photographs is that you’re always fighting the sun reflections coming in the canopy. You take a lot of photos and because of the reflections only some of them are good, so sometimes you have to change a little bit of the direction of the airplane.”

A MOMENT IN TIME

“Fifty years from now when we’re gone someone may want to see the pictures taken during the Covid Pandemic showing the beach when nobody’s there and the parking lot empty. Because hopefully, this doesn’t happen like that again. “

“I need to get some time to organize the hundreds of photos we have taken of the Peninsula over the past years and plan to donate them to the Palos Verdes Library District so they can add them to their PV archival collection.”

Abalone Cove, Sacred Cove, Portuguese Bend Club

Photos Courtesy of Don Stewart

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NJ is a storyteller who has written in many voices for clients in health, education, entertainment, food, sport and politics. Her firm managed publicity for documentary films, book authors and the U.S. Championships. NJ received the Lynn Weaver Award from the Entertainment Professional Publicists Society for her lifelong commitment to philanthropy and community volunteerism.

The Stewarts: Peninsula’s Aerial Explorers By Writer and Contributor NJ Jaeger

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