Klingaman’s aviation practice fuels love of flying

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Attorney Russell Klingaman vividly remembers the first time he flew on his own.

He was 25 and vacationing in Vilas County with his family when his dad, a flight instructor, let him climb into the pilot’s seat of an Ultralight aircraft and soar above the tree line.

“My dad gave me the signal and I gave it full throttle,” Klingaman said. “The next thing you know is I’m flying this motorized hang glider over the woods and lakes in Vilas County.”

Since that day, Klingaman said, he prefers to spend as much time up in the air as he does with his feet on the ground.

A licensed pilot since 1991, the attorney at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLC’s Milwaukee office logs more than 100 flight hours per year. Klingaman has flown his Cessna 182 around the state as well as to Washington, D.C., Key West and New Orleans.

“It is addicting and also very satisfying,” Klingaman said. “Some of the best moments I’ve spent on this Earth are the ones I’ve spent in the air.”

To feed his addiction, Klingaman, 53, said he knew he needed to pursue a career that would allow him financial flexibility.

So, he decided to become an attorney.

“I thought if I went back to get a higher degree,” Klingaman said jokingly, “maybe I could afford to fly.”

He acknowledged that completing a client brief during an ideal weekend for flying is a necessary sacrifice, but one he chooses to make in order to get in the air when he can.

While he has no regrets with his career path, Klingaman said, he does wish he had more time to spend touring the skies.

“I am very much at piece with my choice,” he said. “But I wish we had 32 or 46 hours in a day so I could work long hours and have enough time to fly.”

Klingaman’s aviation law practice allows his work and play to intersect, though, he said.

“The practice of law makes flying more realistic,” he said. “I can justify taking trips and practicing my skills just to make sure I’m up to date on all of the new developments in aviation.”

Of course, an attraction to the law also played a role in Klingaman’s decision to attend the University of Wisconsin Law School.

He graduated in May 1991 and joined Hinshaw & Culbertson, where he also practices commercial litigation and insurance defense. A few months later, Klingaman obtained his pilot’s license and purchased his first plane: a two-seat, 100-horsepower Cessna 150.

“It was my graduation present to myself,” he said.

Klingaman is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, through which he is referred legal work, often dealing with Federal Aviation Administration enforcement actions.

He also is a member of the Edgewater, Md.-based Lawyer Pilots Bar Association, where he serves on the executive board, and he is a member of the National Transportation Safety Board Bar Association.

Klingaman said he considers himself lucky to work in a profession that fuels his desire to fly.

“After you pay all the bills, I just see it as a way to spend my time and money,” he said. “Certainly, a lot of my peers like to spend their time and money on the golf course. But I’m not much of a golfer.”