Felix’s early love of airplanes led to a career as a test pilot, inventor, and author. After graduating from Purdue, Felix joined the Douglass Aircraft Company. In 1952, he joined the United States Air Force and flew test support missions for the Air Research and Development Command at Holloman Air Force Base. He opened his own flight instruction and charter business before joining the Boeing Company in 1957. During his 21 years at Boeing he flew 3,000 hours of B-52 flight tests, structural demonstrations, flutter tests, autopilot development, and midair refueling. Boeing sent him to the Naval Test Pilot School in 1961, where he became an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1969. In 1985, he was promoted to Fellow in the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.