Page 5 - Volume 11 Number 7

Californian Frank Singer is
living life to the fullest at
age 83, and that includes
flying his King Air C90B. He
explained that every year he
goes to get his medical for
insurance requisites and, so far,
he has no exceptions. “When I
go in to get my medical, they
always ask what medications I’m
taking and I tell them nothing.
They always reply in disbelief
commenting that I’m over 80
and reaffirm that ‘surely I must
at least be taking something over the counter,’ and ask what I take for a headache. I told them that I think I may have had a headache a few years ago and taken something.”
He continued, “I still run two miles every morning, I love to ski and when I look in the mirror I wonder who that old guy is!” Crediting his mother’s side of the family for his health and longevity, he explained that she lived until the age of 97, her mother was 104 and her grandmother lived to 114.
Singer has led an interesting life from the start. Born Jewish in Vienna, Austria, he and his family fled their country for America on the last peace-time sailing of the Queen Mary before World War II. They settled in New York and since he had a former nanny who spoke English, Singer became the translator for his parents when they arrived.
When he was about 16, his mother worried that he could eventually get drafted to fight in a war, so she told him to start applying and taking entrance exams for colleges. He got accepted to four without his high school diploma and chose Purdue to study engineering. After gaining a degree in engineering, he went on to earn an MBA and then joined the workforce.
From Rocket Scientist to Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Singer’s first job out of college was with Sperry Gyroscope Company, known for its advanced aircraft navigation equipment; his work there entailed various projects with gyroscopes, as well as some basic rocketry. It was there that his interest in becoming a pilot was piqued. A technician that was assigned to him had been a Flying Sergeant in World War II and shared, as Singer describes it, “wonderful tales of flying the P-51.” Soon after, he went to a close-by airport and signed up for flying lessons.
JULY 2017
Singer and some friends before one of his flights for Wings of Rescue, a charity that helps transfer animals out of California to other parts of the nation where there is more demand.
“I learned in a Piper J-3 Cub from an instructor who had one eye and had been a fighter pilot in World War II! I got very good training from him and acquired my PPL in 1956, at the age of 22,” Singer explained.
After leaving Sperry, Singer worked on programs involving propulsion, navigation, rocketry and even Polaris missiles for various companies including Honeywell, General Dynamics, and Dayco While at Dayco, he was living in the Los Angeles area and was picked to oversee one of their conglomerate companies in Costa Mesa, California, that manufactured flexible metal hoses. Dayco decided to sell the company and Singer asked to buy it. He purchased the company and after about seven or eight years, in the mid-1980s, he said he got bored. His company ended up in a joint venture with a company from China that had 500,000 employees in one location. He was surprised that the Chinese company would reach out to his small company of 80 employees. He said the Chinese company had searched out certain types of technologies and was interested in the way Singer’s company manufactured the hoses. Eventually, a large company wanted to buy his flexible metal hose company and he told him he wasn’t interested at that time. He still wanted to build up its equity and said he’d probably be ready to sell it in at least five years when it would be worth more. The company came back and offered him the amount that he expected his company would be worth later. Singer is still surprised that such a big company would want to buy his small company, but they were interested in its relationship already established with China.
After selling the company, Singer formed Tech Coast Angles with five of his friends to invest in high-tech, early-stage companies. He also is a partner in an aircraft service company, SoCal Jets, located in Van Nuys, California.
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 3