NWA Capt. Leland “Lee” Keith Ozawa

 

~ IN MEMORY ~

Military veteran, NWA Capt. Leland “Lee” Keith Ozawa

December 16, 1943 ~ September 21, 2024

From the RNPA/Retired Northwest pilots group:  https://rnpa.org/memoriam/obits/406-lee-ozawa

 

 Captain Leland K. Ozawa, age 80, died on September 21, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada of pneumonia. He was born on December 16, 1943 at Queens’s Hospital, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to parents Walter Minoru Ozawa and Catherine Keonaona Sims.

 

   ‘Lee’ was the second of four siblings, there was an older brother and a younger brother and sister. His father was a GP medical doctor, and his mother Catherine was a nurse. These parents discerned that Lee needed direction and discipline, upon reaching high school age he was enrolled in Staunton Military Academy in Staunton, Virginia, graduating with the class of 1961. After high school Lee enlisted in the Marine Corps and served a single term enlistment.

 

   Briefly after the USMC Lee studied at the University of Utah. Sometime around this era he began general aviation pilot instruction at airports near Salt Lake City. The bulk of his ratings and initial flight time were acquired in or near Salt Lake City. Thereafter, the quest for airline employment began.

 

   Lee was hired by Northwest Airlines on August 01, 1966. After initial training in Minneapolis, he launched 37-year airline career by serving as a second officer on the Boeing 727. He also flew second officer on the Boeing 707 before upgrading to a long line of copilot positions. Lee progressed right up the seniority ladder from the Boeing 727, 707, and 747 Classic as copilot (first officer). His initial captain checkout was on the Boeing 727, this was followed by immensely popular Boeing 757, and eventually the much sought after captain qualification on the Boeing 747 Classic. Toward the end of his career NWA started phasing out the Classic 747 and Lee opted to qualify as a Boeing 747/400 captain. During his 37-year NWA career Lee served at crew bases in Minneapolis, Detroit, New York JFK, and Los Angeles.

 

   It is little known that during the later years of his airline career, Lee enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Nellis AFB campus) and completed his unfinished college degree……………..

 

  PCN memorial site