Quote:
Originally Posted by Winni-Retired
Gene must have been in his late 70's when you had him. I remember he once made me do, wearing the hood, a right hand 720 over that island in the middle of the Situate resevoir and maintain a 50 ft up / down range in altitiude. He almost took my head off because I lost almost 100 feet.. yelling that I was trying to rip the wings off his aircraft.. I think they gave you 150 feet in either direction for the official check ride. He was hard, but you learned. I am not sure if he is still with us, but I am sure you know, he was the owner of North Central Airways .. back in the day.
What a pleasant day this has been for me today to recall great times and to remember the fun times flying out Laconia taking friends on sight seeing rides over the lake and up to North Conway.
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YUP: I think Gene was probably around 70. He was still working a few years after. He was
Famous. As far as I remember he was the Only FAA guy in the Rhode Island area. The check ride was $150. There was another FAA check pilot out of Taunton..younger ..who was much easier.
I had heard the stories about Gene and wanted a
Challenge and went with Gene. What a hoot. I was under the hood....he took over....put the plane (C172) in a Freakin DIVE...and then calmly told me to FIX the problem.
Just rememberin...
PS: For those not familiar..
Under The Hood means you have a Mask over your head and can NOT see outside the airplane..you MUST rely on your seat of the pants...AND the instruments on the panel.