Thanks to everyone who sent a suggestion via email, Twitter, Facebook or added a comment to the blog. Here are your General Aviation Hero choices, presented in no particular order.
the 16-year-old kid who works odd jobs to get that coveted one hour of flying a month. What an amazing passion that boy or girl must have to work hard for what many of us consider to be such a quick, easy thing. I think of this type of kid often to try and help me remember how lucky I am.” Ian, thanks for writing in. That’s the image I hold in my mind while trying to promote and grow General Aviation.
#2 Jerrie Mock, the Flying Housewife. Fellow blogger Dan Pimentel and Wanda Zuege, fellow Master CFI, both suggested her. Dan wrote: “I suggest you highlight one of my aviation heroes, Jerrie Mock. She was the first woman to fly around the world solo, making the successful trip in 1964 in a Cessna 180. Aviation history has not been kind to her, but this accomplishment should be noted whenever possible. You can read about her at www.three-eightcharlie.com.” Being the humble guy he is, Dan didn’t mention that he too has written several articles and produced a YouTube video about Jerrie.
Wanda wrote that Jerrie “set the speed record for men and women in a round-the-world flight in a single engine plane. First woman to fly the North Atlantic from the United States to Africa. First to fly the Pacific in either direction in a single engine plane. First woman to fly the pacific west-to-east. On May 4, 1964, she was awarded the FAA’s Exceptional Service Decoration by President Lyndon B. Johnson.” Fellow blogger Todd McClamroch wrote: “I would second Wanda's suggestion. I also enjoyed reading "Three Eight Charlie" the story of Jerrie Mock. I published a google map of her flight on my blog"
#3 Simone Aaberg Kaern. Michelle Judice wrote: “PBS just aired a great documentary on Wide Angle about a GA pilot who'd be an excellent candidate for your series. ‘Flying Down to Kabul’ follows Simone Aaberg Kaern on a 2-month, 3,000-mile trip from Sweden to Afghanistan with the goal of encouraging one young girl to pursue her dream of becoming a fighter pilot. The story does not have a Hollywood ending but it shows the resolve and great lengths that Simone went through to help a stranger while attempting to bridge the geographic and cultural boundaries of these two countries. Whether or not her goal was reached in the end is insignificant to this remarkable story of one GA pilot trying to pay it forward through her love of general aviation."
#4 Elrey Jeppesen. Bob Moragues wrote: “One name that always comes to my mind is Elrey Jeppesen. I can't imagine the number of lives he has saved over the years.” You can read about Elrey here.
#5 William Wynne. Mike Whaley wrote a detailed post that you can read in its entirety in the comments section. Here are some excerpts: “I would like to suggest someone for your ‘heroes of Gen Av’ series: William Wynne. He's best known for his deep technical expertise that he's used to develop and promote the Corvair engine as a powerplant for experimental aircraft (his nickname is ‘The Corvair Authority’, however I believe that his real and lasting contributions to Gen-Av ultimately have much less to do with any particular products or the engines he's developed, and more with the attitude and social movement that he has played such a major role in launching within the sport aviation community...
#6 Dick Bridgeford. Chuck Cozad wrote: “A real hero in the Northern Calif. area was Dick Bridgeford, founder of Bridgeford Flying service at Napa and Stockton airports. He and his partners founded the company just after WWII. They were army air corp glider pilots and after the war were one of the first Cessna dealers in Calif. They taught many future professional pilots and ran a top notch school and repair station well into the 90's. The founders are now gone but their company lives on."
#7 The YOUNG CFI. Paul Gretschel wrote: “A comment on my aviation heros. The YOUNG CFI who struggles every day to get a few flights in and only gets paid $10.-15. per hour. These young instructors only get to fly about 10-20 hours per week. They do it because they love flying and want to make a career in aviation. I never had to do that because initially flight instruction was a sideline for me. Recently, I have been taking helicopter lessons here on Long Island and I see how hard these young instructors work and do not make enough money to scrape by."
#8 Roscoe Turner. Joe Casey wrote: “How about an article on Roscoe Turner?"
#9 Max Conrad. Harry Mathis wrote: “You asked about General Aviation heroes. Another ‘Max’ comes to mind -- Max Conrad, who you remember was a pro pilot for Piper who set all kinds of distance records to publicize Piper's new Commanche. He made a great contribution to GA by forging new ground in demonstrating its vast potential to the general public. I flew a Commanche back in the early 60's and loved the airplane. Alas, today my wife cannot negotiate climbing up on the wing and down into the cockpit, so I am now flying a Cessna T210N, probably the best all around performing single engine airplane ever built."
#10 John Montgomery. From Facebook, my friend Ron Carmichael wrote: “John Montgomery who has received practically zero recognition outside of Santa Clara for his pioneering work at Otay Mesa, Santa Clara Fairgrounds and ‘Evergreen Hill’. He's big at the Hiller Museum and was gliding from 3000 ft before the Wright Bros. got anywhere near this height."
#11 Don Sheldon. From Facebook, fellow blogger Todd McClamroch wrote: “I would add Alaskan Bush Pilot Don Sheldon to your list. If you have not read ‘Wager with the Win’ I highly recommend it."
#12 Bertrand Piccard. From an online conversation on Facebook, fellow blogger Vincent Lambercy suggested Bertrand Piccard and recommended these websites: www.bertrandpiccard.com/eng/index.php and www.solarimpulse.com.
#13 Roger Brogren. From Twitter, Brad Heck wrote in his 140 characters available: “Roger Brogren #civil air patrol glider instructor in Minnesota. Finest GA pilot in the midwest in my book."
#14, 15, 16 Betty Fox, Michael Church, Burt Rutan. From Twitter, PlaneMadness wrote: “Betty Fox, Michael Church, Burt Rutan to name a few. Not necessarily in that order :-)"
Michael is the 2005 National Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year. I first met him at Oshkosh and have since visited him at his Sunrise Aviation flight school at the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California. Burt Rutan is of course the founder of Scaled Composites, probably best known for sending the first civilian astronaut into Space. I didn’t know Betty Fox, so I asked PlaneMadness and he tweeted back this response: “Betty was a DE in SoCal in the late 80's, first class pilot and lady, flew just about everything. Someone everyone respected.
Thank you
I'd like to thank everyone who wrote in and contributed to this series. As your comments show, we’re deeply indebted to these individuals that have made a difference in our lives and in our industry. I hope this series inspires you to be even more heroic in your daily activities as you promote General Aviation.
General Aviation Heroes
- Part I - Clyde Cessna
- Part II - Flight Instructors
- Part III - Paul Poberezny, EAA Founder
- Part IV - Dale and Alan Klapmeier of Cirrus Design
Max - Thanks for pulling together the aviation hero themes. It has been fun to read about each hero you selected and to see what your readers thought!
Posted by: Todd | April 10, 2009 at 01:59 PM