Sculptor John Cody created this monument for County aerial firefighters, entitled The Aviator, at the request of his friend, Karen Langley. Karen’s son, Jeffrey Langley, had been a firefighter paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and in 1993 he lost his life in a helicopter accident during a rescue attempt.

In addition to his firefighting service, Jeffrey Langley was a prominent safety advocate and worked tirelessly to raise money for additional practice equipment and training for firefighter air operations. Following his death, his friends and colleagues continued his efforts and eventually a stationary helicopter was installed atop a tall tower at the Pacoima facility for training. John Cody’s green serpentine stone sculpture now sits in front of this tower.

The sculpture is a compassionate and highly detailed depiction of an aerial firefighter which emerges from the rough stone. Karen Langley wanted the artwork to honor all firefighters so although the firefighter’s portrait was inspired by Jeffrey Langley, Cody donated the sculpture as a tribute to “the spirit and heroism of Los Angeles County Fire Department Air Operations personnel.” As is Cody’s practice, he also found and quarried the stone himself and carved it using both hand and power tools.

About the Artist: Born in 1948, John Cody spent his youth in Virginia and became interested in stone sculpture as a teenager after volunteering at an indigenous archaeological site in South Carolina. The stone carvings he helped excavate fascinated him and he soon began sculpting in the same medium. Cody moved west when he was eighteen and arrived in southern California in 1967, first settling in Solvang. It was here that he began quarrying serpentine stone, a material that remains his favorite. In 1976, Cody moved to Los Olivos and later opened an art gallery there in a former blacksmith’s shop. His public commissions include works at the Santa Maria Natural History Museum, the Santa Maria Courthouse, and Knotts Berry Farm.