David Dale, a native of Houston, Texas, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Business Administration degree and was commissioned in 1984 as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. His flying assignments during a 20-year military career included navigating the B-52G, piloting both the U.S. KC-10 and Dutch KDC-10 air refueling tankers, and finally the Gulfstream C-20B and C-37 for high-level dignitary missions. David is currently a Boeing 737 captain for Southwest Airlines.