For Partners and Donors of Dale Black Ministries: you are invited to a private celebration – the 50th Anniversary of the airplane crash, from which Dale was the sole survivor. Remembered as perhaps aviation’s most ironic crash, this special anniversary is yet another way we can recognize the power and love of the God we serve, Who not only spared Dale’s life but healed his body and restored his dreams with 50 more years of aviation and ministry. What a mighty God we serve!

One thing for certain is that God will be there and He will be given honor. If you are able to attend and celebrate with us, it would be a joy to connect with you personally at this special occasion. If you are unable to attend but would still like to participate, you are encouraged to tune-in to Facebook LIVE posts on Dale’s Facebook page (Capt. Dale Black).

Built in 1924 for famous aviators, Portal of the Folded Wings in Hollywood-Burbank, CA

There will be additional LIVE Posts on Capt. Dale Black’s Facebook page leading up to the special date, and on the Anniversary (July 18th), there will be several LIVE Posts as events unfold: the first will be the flight over the monument as it happens at approximately 10:00 am Pacific Time. There will also be posts of a portion of the celebration at the crash site, Portal of the Folded Wings, where Dale will tell a little about the crash and share some of his testimony.

This anniversary event will also be momentous in the aviation community, with many aviators present, including an Astronaut, an FAA Examiner, several Airline Captains and some of Dale & Paula’s family and personal friends. As a Partner or Donor of Dale Black Ministries, we would love for you to be there as well. And if you would like to bring a guest with you, feel free to do that.

Photo taken minutes after the crash of July 18, 1969

 

 

This year we initially intended only to have a small personal celebration with a few friends/family. But in the last two weeks, key partners have expressed a desire to do something more appropriate and very special. So with some arm twisting by some who love us dearly and want to see God glorified, we are now broadening the event in order that more can participate. We have been hugely surprised and very pleased at the wonderful response, even at this late date. Many who are part of our lives, as well as Dale’s aviation and ministry career, are RSVP’ing.

The crumpled cockpit where Dale’s body was found.

Press Releases have also gone out and we expect some news coverage of this historic event which was reported so broadly 50 years ago by multiple newspapers and all the local news channels. Below are the details for the event. We are hopeful that this story will touch hearts and spread the gospel message. Also bring more exposure to Dale’s testimony as told in “Flight To Heaven,” and God would receive glory.

Dale visits the portal several months after the accident.

Psalm 91 has always been a special passage of scripture for Dale regarding the airplane crash. We are including verses 14-16 here as a promise which God clearly fulfilled: “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name; He shall call upon Me and I shall answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him; with long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”

 

Below are the details for the 50th Anniversary celebration. We hope you are able to attend in person or watch through Facebook LIVE posts as they happen on July 18th.

Details of the event are as follows:
WHEN: Thursday, July 18th, 2019, beginning at 1:00 pm Pacific Time.
WHERE: Hollywood-Burbank Airport (aka Bob Hope Airport)
and
Portal of the Folded Wings at Valhalla Memorial Park
Cemetery (just south of the airport).

Dale & Paula launching “Success Unlimited – 30 Days to a totally successful life” in 1987

To commemorate this historic 50 year anniversary, just prior to the Reception, Dale will be taking off from Burbank airport to fly over the monument, taking the same flight path their ill-fated plane took 50 years ago.

Dale will fly with his CFI Flight Instructor and friend from 1973, Richard Mend of Mend Aviation. This flight will be a LIVE post on Facebook.

1:00 – 3:00 Reception at Atlantic Air Terminal, Hollywood-Burbank Airport (aka Bob Hope Airport). Where there will be memorabilia from the crash, photos and some video of Dale’s story of the crash, photos of the life he has lived since God gave it back to him. A light informal lunch will be provided. There will also be some interviews of those who have been a part of Dale’s aviation and ministry life.

3:30 – 5:00 A gathering at Portal of the Folded Wings in Valhalla Memorial Park (just south of airport). Dale will share a brief description of the crash and be interviewed. A 50th Anniversary Plaque will be unveiled which will ultimately be mounted on the wall of the monument as a witness and memorial to the airplane crash and God’s intervention to spare Dale’s life and heal him. The museum at the Portal will also be open to enjoy the aviation history that is represented.

5:00 – 7:00 Optional Dinner at the Daily Grille Restaurant at the Marriott, Burbank (Dinner is Dutch). The dinner is not part of the official event, but is an important addition to the day. We would love to have the time to visit and connect with you and several of Dale’s personal friends and people that are particularly special to his life. A few people will be asked to say a few words about their memories of Dale’s life in ministry/aviation. A presentation will be made. (Each person will be financially responsible for their own dinner.) We do need your RSVP by Wednesday the 17th if possible, to alert the restaurant of how many to expect. Thank you.

Capt. Dale Black
God gave Dale a second opportunity at life that would be a testimony to God’s mercy and goodness. On July 18, 1969 Dale was the only survivor in one of aviation’s most ironic airplane crashes–when their plane impacted The Portal of the Folded Wings. Dale alone survived. With a strong faith in God for healing, a 12-step checklist in overcoming adversity, coupled with determination and hard work, Dale miraculously recovered from his massive injuries to accomplish much–personally, in ministry and in aviation–all to the glory of God.

D&P married in March 1972 at Long Beach First Church of the Nazarene.

Personal: Dale and Paula, who met at college, married in March of 1972. Dale completed his BA degree from Pasadena College (now called: Point Loma Nazarene University) in 1973. While working as Director of Transportation at the family business, managing 22 trucks, drivers, mechanics and the dispatch operations, Dale somehow found time to acquired his MA in Theology and start a family. Later he acquired his PhD in Business while running his first aviation company. Today Dale and Paula have two grown children, a son and a daughter, who run their own businesses and serve the Lord with passion. They all live in Southern California.

Dale and Paula with “our kids” in the Orphanage they founded in Guatemala. 

Dale, who speaks fluent Spanish,  tells boys more about the gospel after Showing the Jesus Film in Mexicali, Mexico.

D&P leading a ministry team: distributing gospel tracts, food and clothing, along with showing the Jesus Film throughout much of Baja California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry: Throughout his life since 1971, Dale has served the Lord wherever the Lord directed. Never taking income from his ministry efforts, Dale always supported his family through his business and as a professional pilot while giving his time and talents to the Lord. He started out sharing his testimony in churches and church conferences whenever asked, which was almost weekly. Dale and Paula served as Missionaries among the beloved Aguaruna Indian Tribe in the jungles of Northern Peru, served as Youth Ministers at La Mirada Church of the Nazarene, formed and lead the College/Career ministry in a large church in Long Beach, led dozens of Work and Witness teams on Mission trips to Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and El Salvador, building churches and sharing the gospel of Jesus. He also founded and established an orphanage in Guatemala, and built a special church in Peru.

Dale was ordained in July 1988, with a large array of ministers conducting the ceremony. For several years thereafter, Dale trained and led lay ministry teams on Evangelistic Mission Trips to more than 50 countries where they distributed food and clothing, planted gardens, provided disaster relief, provided medical and dental outreach, and showed the Jesus Film and leading successful street evangelism, resulting in tens of thousands accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Their volunteer ministry continued when Dale and I planted a new church in Southern California and were the senior pastors. Dale launched a daily evangelistic TV program which won souls for Jesus for two years, until I was given the fight of my life. Shockingly I was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1997 but, thank God, my (and Dale’s) story ends in victory. Our journey is recorded in the book “Life, Cancer and God.” Healing has always been a key part of Dale’s ministry since the airplane crash and he has produced an audio book called, “How God Heals,” and is working on a soon to be released “Cancer Healing Program” which is part of the Healing Way Workshops.

With the first of two teams in Moscow, distributing Bibles and doing street evangelism to thousands just after Glasnost & Perestroika

Eventually Dale and I sold our personal assets to continue supporting our ministry work. Then in 2014, when we reached retirement age, we started Dale Black Ministries with a mission of teaching God’s uncompromising Word to the unchurched. This ministry is continuing to grow and is  reaching new people with the good news of the gospel every day.

In recent years Dale wrote his bestselling book, “Flight To Heaven,” followed by “Visiting Heaven.” In 2019 Dale established Healing Way Ministries where he is currently teaching how to receive healing from God by blending the natural with the miraculous, and conducting Healing Way 2-day workshops on how to receive healing and defeat sickness and disease God’s way.

Dale’s retirement flight from Golden West Airlines LAX. Dale, Dad, Paula, Eric, Kara, Mom and Capt. Bob in SD-330 1979

Dale on July 18, 2019 Trans World Airlines, the 10 Year Anniversary of the crash. Boeing 707 LAX.

Aviation:  Due to amnesia following the airplane crash, Dale had to learn to fly all over again and retrain his memory with new techniques to remember data. Over many years he worked his way up through the ranks of general aviation and flew for Golden West Airlines beginning in 1977 and was hired by TWA in 1979. He started his first business–American Eagle Aviation in Long Beach, California in 1980, providing training for Private Pilot through Airline Transport Certificate–specializing in Cessna Citation jet and Learjet type ratings. This business was a huge success and under the Lord’s leading Dale & Paula sold it and planted the proceeds into gospel evangelism. In 1991 Dale started Jet Flight Aviation in Denver, Colorado–a pilot training company specializing in Boeing 737 type ratings and the ATP certification, along with various proficiency and recurrent courses. Within three years, Jet Flight became the most profitable, privately held company in Boeing 737 pilot training in the U.S.

Dale & Paula in the cockpit of the Boeing 737 on 25th anniversary of the crash (July 18, 1994) Denver, CO.

Because of the crash in his early days, Dale had an internal burning desire to improve aviation safety.  Asked to be an FAA accident prevention counselor, he went above and beyond to learn more to improve the quality of pilot training, with the end result of improving aviation safety. He served the industry as a Systems Instructor for the Boeing 707, 727, 737, 747 commercial jet aircraft. He was an Boeing 737 Flight Standards Captain, Flight and Systems Instructor and FAA Flight Examiner in the Boeing 737, the Cessna Citation 500 & 550, and the Learjet 35/36, 24/25, 55 as well as the Airline Transport Pilot Certificate. He was a regular speaker in commercial aviation safety seminars. He gave instruction to, and became acquaintances with, many celebrities and Fortune 500 executives. As a testament to faith in God’s word, throughout his 50 year aviation career, Dale has passed the First Class FAA medical exam with with 20/20 uncorrected vision, throughout his career–to the glory of God.

Jesus said… “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Dr. Caroll Land, coach and great friend, greeting Dale & Paula at Dale’s Ordination July 10, 1988 Long Beach, CA

Dale qualifies for FAA Designated Examiner for Cessna Citation Type Ratings – Airline Transport Pilot Certification

I hope that seeing a snapshot of the life God spared and has used throughout the last 50 years has blessed you as it has blessed me to review it. I am in awe of the God we serve and His mercy and love.

I look forward in the hope of seeing you soon.

Sincerely,
Paula Black
[email protected]

Another successful Ministry Team of doctors, aviators and lay evangelists in Isla De Cedros, Mexico, a harvest field of ripe souls.

Paula and Dale praying for Rev. Greg McBrayer at Dale’s speaking engagement for American Airlines Prayer Breakfast, August 2018 Dallas/Fort Worth, TX.