The Roll Call

[El Comat]

lol...that's cuz you weren't around for our first day at the airport. He RDA'ed (Requirement for Disciplinary Action) two people because they couldn't rhyme off all the vitals of the Zlin emergencies. 5 RDAs and the college could kick you out of the program. Having said that, they had their PPLs already so I guess he just wanted to drill it into their head that they were no better than anyone else in the program. And when I say "hard ass", I mean he was a stickler for details, which I love because I'm a numbers kind of guy for the most part. All in all he was probably the best instructor I ever had.

EC

[Lurch]

Chris Storvold, CFTC, my very first flight instructor...

...wonder where he is now...

Chris was my PPL instructor and quite enjoyed it.

Last I know 2-3 years ago he was flying Medivac for Little Red out of High Level

My Favorite Instructors were Dave Tower and Doug Gillanders always pushing me to My/Airplanes limits.

[flyinthebug]

This was kinda an interesting thread and I thought it was appropriate to resurrect it from 5 years ago. Memories is what makes doing what we do that much more fun! I hope we will see some additions to this list of people who had an influence on you and your career.

Fly safe all.

[ZBBYLW]

A couple instructors that taught me a lot are in no particular order:

Steve Cowen
Greg McQuaid
Tom Chester
Marc Vanderaegen
Harry Walton

Learned a fair bit from these guys from how to push an airplane to it's limit, professionalism, the concept of real world flying even during training and how to go into each and every flight and improve always compete against yourself to do better.

[seasonaldriver]

Not an instructor of mine but a real influence.

The airplane is just a bunch of sticks and wires and cloth, a tool for learning about the sky and about what kind of person I am, when I fly. An airplane stands for freedom, for joy, for the power to understand, and to demonstrate that understanding. Those things aren't destructable.

— Richard Bach, 'Nothing by Chance,' 1963.

Never stop being a kid. Never stop feeling and seeing and being excited with great things like air and engines and sounds of sunlight within you. Wear your little mask if you must to protect you from the world but if you let that kid disappear you are grown up and you are dead.

— Richard Bach, 'Nothing by Chance,' 1963.

[mgeni]

For Me I would vote for:

Robin Tidswell - taught me to demand the most of myself
Jeff Weeks - to critique and improve on every flight
Dave Campbell - confidential


Cheers

Apache

I happen to agree with you!

[Bruce Gorle]

Gordie Juene
Gordie Wicks
Jack Ellard
Peter Shewring

[P180]

Bob Little from Guelph air service and later on Union gas..

[MacStork]

Ditto to Bruce Gorle's choices .... all excellent instructors!
I would like to add T. Bordon Fawcett, who taught me how to fly a RADIO RANGE approach.

[Cat Driver]

Aaahhh...the days of looking for the aural null.

[loopy]

Moncton flight college:

Graham Sheppard and Scott Mortimer when I was there, 98-99. Many other great instructors ther as well.

[bigsky]

Aaahhh...the days of looking for the aural null.

dah-dit, dah-dit di-dah, di-dah

[Cat Driver]

Don't forget back in those days if you could not read morse code you could not hold an instrument rating.

I stated my instrument rating training in a Stinson 108 ( 1956) with a manual loop antenna.

ADF approaches were the norm and thus not looked at as some black magic machine that only a few understood.

['CauseTheCaravanCan]

I must acknowledge Aaron Grubin of First Nations Technical Institute in Tyendinaga. The ex military, float pilot and ground school instructor during my CPL and PPL. He always had an imaginary AK-47 with him when we were on diversions and every so often I'd hear him whisper to himself "Charlies!" as his eyes darted frantically out the windows. You never let me leave your classroom until I GOT IT!

Also the award for most influential goes to William Mowat. Real emergency procedures at 500' in a 206 over the winter roads ad nauseum all in the name of "getting your nerves out now." And for bringing a mennonite pilot the closest to swearing they've ever come when showcasing the glide capabilities of a Caravan when in feather in flight.
Thanks.

[P180]

Don't forget back in those days if you could not read morse code you could not hold an instrument rating.

I stated my instrument rating training in a Stinson 108 ( 1956) with a manual loop antenna.

ADF approaches were the norm and thus not looked at as some black magic machine that only a few understood.

I did that too.My IFR instructor was ex airforce and made us learn the code.Anyone remember the ASH NDB.

[fleet16b]

Having a Father that started in aviation back in the 30's , I was greatly tutor, mentored and taught by a few early pilots and WW2 vets.
My Dad ( WW2 Instructor
Greg Cross ( my 1st Flying Instructor)
Bob Gawn ( tail dragger instructor)
Ken Gamble ( Mentor in all things aviation)
Stan Castle ( WW2 Instructor)
Fern Villeneauve ( Canadian Aviation Legend)

Those are just a few that had / have a major influence on my Aviation life.
Ofcourse , I have met and learned from many others and as a junior to all of them , I tried to keep my mouth shut listen and ask questions when the chance arose.
Using this method , I picked up lots of valuable lessons and some neat little tricks that you won't learn from a book
I really miss those guys as they slowly pass on

[Colonel Sanders]

Anyone remember the ASH NDB

I didn't know it was gone ._ ....

In the days before LORAN, I used to use it to find ZBA.

[Shiny Side Up]

Anyone remember the ASH NDB

I didn't know it was gone ._ ....

In the days before LORAN, I used to use it to find ZBA.

I hope I'm not the bearer of bad news but you know LORAN is gone too right?

[Liquid Charlie]

Anyone remember the ASH NDB.

How about the ils rwy 10 CYYZ

[Colonel Sanders]

I just scanned in this plate I carry around in my journey
log (seriously) ... it's a little out of date, but I'm sure it
would do in a pinch:



Sorry, trying to get back on topic, influential people (to me):

Rich Perkins: KLVK, http://www.attitudeaviation.com/ourinstructors.html
What a guy. When I met him, back in the late 90's he had
his L39 parked in the hangar, and rented out two Pitts solo. Still
does! Gosh, we had fun with them. Incredible operation which
would surely be illegal in Canada.

Freddy Cabanas: KEYW: http://www.cabanasaerobatics.com/airshow_performer.html
Unbelieveable character, fantastic stick. Jimmy Buffet
wishes he was Freddy! Freddy badly needs to write a biography.
Clearing customs with Freddy is a wild experience.

Bill Finagin: KANP. Retired USN Admiral, longtime airshow pilot,
Pitts spin instructor. I am sure he has saved countless lives.

Budd Davisson: KSDL: http://www.airbum.com/Pitts/PittsFlightTraining.html
Noted author, decades of teaching people to land Pitts. Has
stopped many airframes from being destroyed.

Curtis Pitts (deceased): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Pitts
Had the honour of meeting the great man a few times before he
died in 2005. Great big guy. Could never figure out how someone
who wasn't an engineer could design such an incredible airplane.

BD Maule (deceased): KMUL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maule_Air
He kept building light aircraft long after Cessna had left the building
in the 1980's. What a nice guy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACvyt6SmGg0
When he got bored, he would do this: http://www.mauleairinc.com/Maule_Histor ... _color.jpg

Bob Hoover: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hoover
Another incredibly nice guy. Stayed classy, even when the FAA
capriciously pulled his medical. WWII hero, superb fighter jet
pilot, incredible airshow pilot. I really miss seeing him fly at OSH.

Cole Palen: NY94: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cole_Palen
Bought up old WWI aircraft when everyone else thought they
were junk and created this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Rhinebeck_Aerodrome

John Chambers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chambers_(CEO)
I don't think he ever got his FAA pilot certificate, but what a guy.
Showed me (and the rest of the world) that you don't have to
be thieving scum to be a CEO. He is the exact opposite.


I can't say that any of the above people were my flight instructors,
but all of them were huge figures in my life. They showed me what
was possible, and it was an honour to fly formation aerobatics with
some of them!

[lost]

Hands down Ron Mcdonald at Algonquin flight center in North Bay (I'm aging myself since both have since passed).
Ron was not only a fantastic pilot and instructor but one of the classiest men I ever met. I learnt as much about flying as
I did about how to conduct myself in this business and life in general. I can't smell pipe tobacco and not think of him.

[leftcoaster]

Paul Jackson was my instructor for my Commercial licence many years ago. Powerful instructor with an easy matter of fact attitude. I also had the privilege of working for him as weekend dispatcher at the same time I was still in high school.

Jack Kaiser was a huge influence on me during my instructor rating and much of my IFR. I hold many of his important nutshells of wisdom close by every time I fly.
Sadly, both of these great men have recently passed away. I thought of each of them recently before seeing this thread or hearing of their passing.
Lastly, although technically not my instructor, Keith Drake was a Captain whom I flew with in my early ME days who showed by example and ease exactly what an effective Captain was. Keith is still showing the way over at Westjet. A true Gentleman.
Keith Greig

[North Shore]

Well, looking back over my logbook, it's been just over 20 years since I took my first flight (September 20th, 1991) Sean Croft shows up for my entire PPL. Looking at my lesson progression, I don't think I was a difficult student (although I know I had some terrible jokes!) but I'm sure that there were some trying times - my instructing experience was that every student was good for one grey hair.

Thank-you.

[Hornblower]

I must be really old, cause I don't recognize a single name on that list .. 'cept for a few on Colonel Hedley's list ( he's such a name dropper). Can't honestly say I had any real good instructors, most were losers or newbs. I learned more from the people I work(ed) with, who were not instructors ... and a fair bit around the ready room and hanger.

[howard40]

Randy Forwell
Randy Jones
Where are those two these days?