[1] As a young man, he worked in Washington, D.C. as a chauffeur for Isaac T. Mann, a millionaire from West Virginia,[1] and drove in automobile races.

[3] The governor of West Virginia, William E. Glasscock, bestowed the honorific title of "colonel" on Peck, but this did not reflect an actual military rank.

[1] He also designed and built his own airplane, the Peck Columbian, a pusher biplane with a Gyro Motor Company 50-horsepower (37 kW) engine driving a single propeller at 1,200 to 1,500 revolutions per minute.

[1][2] In September 1911, Peck became the first pilot to carry air mail in official United States Post Office flights.

[1][2][3] His second fight, at Garden City, New York, was the first for which a U.S. Post Office was established specifically to handle air mail.

[3] Peck's best-known achievement during his lifetime was the flight endurance record he set on May 24, 1912, when he remained aloft for four hours 33 minutes 15 seconds despite heavy winds, blinding rain, and hail.

[2][4] As he reached an altitude of 200 feet (61 m), observers on the ground could see that he had lost control of the plane, its engine apparently having come loose in flight,[1][2][4] probably during his ascent.

[2] The plane began to disintegrate in the air and crashed at a speed of 100 miles per hour (161 km/h), the engine and its whirling propeller, gasoline tank, and iron fittings passing through the cockpit on impact, breaking his neck and injuring his legs.

In 1979, Paul Peck's last living descendants presented a commemorative plaque in his memory to Greenbrier Valley Airport outside Lewisburg, West Virginia.