AFTER 24,000 flight hours over 49 years, Vacaville United Airlines Captain Sam Corsello retired last year. Following his boyhood dream, he flew all over the globe, in frail cloth-covered trainers to the best that Boeing could build. But his most difficult journey was the path to healing he took after his lifelong flying friend, dream partner, wingman and sky soulmate Jason Dahl lost his life on 9/11.
Jason Dahl was the heroic captain of United Flight 93. After crew and passengers fought back against four hijackers, the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pa. After two ’liners took down the World Trade Center, and one crashed into the Pentagon, 93 was the fourth plane to crash that ill-fated day, the only one that failed to hit its target—believed to be the U.S. Capitol. Crew and 40 passengers lost their lives. The hijackers failed.
Sam and I talked in 2007, and I wrote of the brotherhood of him and Jason. On the 20-year milestone, we talked again.
“Jason is never out of my mind,” Sam told me, “but I’ve had to move on,” as Jason would have wanted. Sam still has a hard time talking about him. Sam is one founder of Jason Dahl Scholarship Fund. He’s visited Ground Zero in NYC many times. In 2011, he attended the 10-year ceremony at the Pennsylvania site, and was pictured with Presidents Obama, Clinton, Bush, V.P. Biden. Sam and his wife, Birgitta, Solano Co. administrator, have been Vaca residents since 1989.
Sam’s thoughts have to wander to when he and Jason met in San Jose. They were of one mind: to fly. They both soloed at 16, licensed at 17. Then began their real flight training, getting whatever hops as the only way to log critical flight time. Their bond continued to grow. In time, Jason was signed on by United. He told Sam, who did the same. One Christmas, Jason gifted him a log book, inscribed, “Time will pass and we will probably go our separate ways and pursue respective careers. I hope this book will be a reminder of the times we…
