Hi-Line Living: Master Pilots honored in ceremony

During a brunch at Havre City-County Airport Saturday, three Havre-area pilots were recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration, the North Central Hangar of the Montana Pilots' Association, and more than 135 family members, friends and fellow pilots for their longevity and success as pilots.

Jack Norman, Everett Tyrrel and Tim Dwyer were each honored with a Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, which is "the most prestigious award the FAA issues to pilots," the FAA website says.

Jeff Vercoe, program manager for the FAA Safety Team out of Helena, said at the pre-brunch ceremony that the award is named after the first U.S. pilots, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright.

He added that, along with having 50 years of flying experience, which can be a combination of civil and military, recipients must still hold a U.S. Civil Aviation Authority or FAA pilot certificate, though they don't have to be active pilots. They must have three letters of recommendation, and their aviation records must pass a complete examination by someone with the FAASTeam.

Vercoe gave each pilot a copy of their application packets during the ceremony, which was emceed by Dottie Dwyer, a local pilot with her private and commercial licenses.

"The one thing about Jack is that his love of flying is very contagious," Dwyer said while introducing the honorees, "and he was always ready for a flight and he was always practicing and learning."

"Never let up," Norman said from the crowd.

"And he is truly an inspiration," Dwyer continued.

"I have had a lot of great experiences in the airplanes that I've flown and have gotten myself into a lot of trouble and just barely got out of it," said Norman, who started flying at age 19 and has more than 70 years of experience. "... But I'm real tickled to be here today."

Norman's brother-in-law John Carr, who traveled from Belize to be one of dozens of Norman's family and friends at the event, entertained the crowd with a story about a time when Norman helped him get from the "metropolis of Warrick" in the middle of the Bear Paw Mountains to Mobridge so he could compete at two Fourth of July rodeos.

Carr joked that even though the control tower at Warrick wasn't operational that day Norman dodged all the sage brush and trees taking off and then landed safely at Mobridge - just shy of a 6-foot deep irrigation ditch hidden in the grass at the landing site.

"It was a great day," he said. "I'm 80 years old and I'm still talking about it, so it must've been important."

He thanked Norman for always being willing to help others.

Dwyer said Tyrrel, who recently repassed his pilot's license health certification at 90 years old, in part by challenging himself to take up exercising and hiking, started flying in Washington state at 39 years old.

Tyrrel, she added, has his private pilot's license and a commercial certificate. He currently flies a Mooney aircraft and keeps up with the young pilots by using a flying app.

When prompted to tell a story about his flying experiences, he talked about a time before modern GPS technology was available and he was flying in Alaska with some friends. After negotiating their way through an area with tricky and unfamiliar terrain, they couldn't decide from the paper map where they were exactly.

Tyrrel said they also didn't want to admit to anyone they were lost, so when they landed at a small airstrip they just asked a guy where they could get some good coffee, found their location on the map from that answer and continued on their trip.

Vercoe said that Tim Dwyer, who flew his solo flight at 16 years old and has been a flight instructor for years, made him work hard on his award review because, as a flight instructor, his aviation records were about three times thicker than the others'.

Dwyer said that one of his memorable trips was one in which he was flying with his father through some tough weather and his dad said that the clouds looked gray and ominous.

"Yes they do," he said he told his dad. "But the higher up you get, just watch, the sunlight will kind of bore through and then when you get up on top it's just like the lord kind of opens everything up.

"So, yeah, I feel closer to the lord up there in the airplane than I do anywhere else," he said.

Members of the North Central Hangar spearheaded the Master Pilot Award applications to acknowledge the contributions these members have made to the flying the community.

North Central Hangar President Willie Hurd has been pushing to get area pilots recognized for the award since he heard about it three or four years ago.

"When I first learned of the Master Pilot award offered by the FAA, there were no recipients in this area," he said. "... And I knew that we had pilots that had been flying for 50 years plus, easily, so I started seeking them out."

Previous honorees, Hurd said, were Havre pilots Bob Breum and Charlie Inman and Gildford pilot Roger Lincoln, who were all inducted into the Master Pilot program at a Montana aviation conference two years ago, and pilot John Hebbelman was honored at a ceremony at his home airfield in Chinook last year.

"We have a surprisingly large number per capita of Master Pilots in our small community of flyers around here," Hurd said, adding that he feels it's important for the North Central Hangar, which is a chapter of the Montana Pilots' Association, to recognize their contributions which, in turn, shines a light on aviation as a whole.

"Our goals are to encourage people to fly, promote safe flying and work toward getting young pilots into aviation careers and enjoy the pleasure of flying," he said.

North Central Hangar offers scholarships for area people who are learning to fly.

Fewer private pilots exist in the U.S. than in years past, and the snowball effect of this is a commercial pilot shortage in general.

"In the commercial world, they're hurting," Hurd said, adding "They're offering bonuses right now for people just to sign up to go to school to become a commercial pilot."

Pilots can get their commercial pilot's license right after getting their private pilot's license.

"But you don't get to go to the big show until you've flown enough hours," he said, flying freight and mail, maybe a small passenger plane, like Cape Air flies out of Havre.

"They're also really promoting young ladies to get into commercial aviation. There's been a big push for that in all the aviation magazines I've been seeing," he added.

To help generate interest in the community and youth specifically, the North Central Hanger also has an annual fly-in that is open to the public and offers free rides to youth.

The pilots who give the rides, Hurd said, try to put the older kids in the front seat so they can give them a flying experience from a pilot's perspective. The pilots explain what is going on in the pre-flight, flight and landing and let the kids feel the controls in flight.

Similarly, the group has sponsored and held the ACE High program. The Aviation Career Education high school program, brings in 10 youth for two or three days, Hurd said, and the kids have an indoor education session followed by sessions outside in the airport and in airplanes. The last day, they get to go flying.

"We make several flights, so everybody has a chance to be in the front seat, wiggle the controls, see what it's like to be pilot in command of an aircraft," he said.

The cost is minimal - about $20 - just to cover the expense of the text book, lunches and other handouts, Hurd said.

The hangar chapter is hoping to inspire youth to fill what member and the Master Pilot brunch organizer Tony Dolphay called "a drastic shortage of younger pilots."

Dolphay, who also owns the fixed base operation at Havre City-County Airport and works as the airport manager, pointed to Tim Dwyer as an example of someone who has had a career in aviation flying mail, charter aircraft and an air ambulance, serving on and training pilots for air search and rescue, and being a flight instructor.

Hurd said that he's already started on the Master Pilot application process for another area pilot and has leads on two more, but as someone relatively new to aviation he is enlisting the help of other pilots and area communities to learn about more.

"We're looking for more pilots that we may not know about that have been flying for a long, long time," Dolphay added. "... We're seeking out those other people. We believe they need the recognition."

Along with their application packets, this year's Master Pilot honorees will receive an official certificate and a lapel pin. They will also have their names listed on the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award Roll of Honor.

The complete list of recipients can be found at https://www.faasafety.gov/content/masterpilot/RecipientList.aspx .

The North Central Hangar chapter meets the second Monday each month at 7:30 p.m. in the terminal at the Havre City-County Airport.