Reals worked as a flight surgeon in the US Army. After obtaining his pilot’s license in 1962, he was able to work as a pathologist investigating aircraft accidents. He investigated fatal airplane crashes for the FAA, the U.S. Air Force and several Kansas aircraft companies. His recommendations led to the regulation that curtains between aircraft compartments be kept open during take-offs and landings. Reals investigated the crash of two Boeing 747’s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, the 1965 Air Force tanker crash in north Wichita, and the 1970 crash of a charter plane in Colorado that claimed the many lives of Wichita State University students. He was President of the College of American Pathologists, Dean of the University Of Kansas School Of Medicine in Wichita, and Trustee of the American Board of Pathology. He lectured widely and produced two reference books on aviation pathology.