Richard King of Amelia received the Wright Brothers “Master Pilot” Award. The Federal Aviation Administration recognizes pilots who have conducted 50 years or more of safe flight operations.
Howard Plevyak, a fellow member and Glastar Builder, presented the prestigious award to King at the local EAA Chapter 194 meeting at the Butler County Regional Airport.
King’s first solo flight was July 8, 1965, in a Cessna 150 at the Kent State University Airport in Stow, Ohio. After graduating from Kent State University in 1967 King taught flying at the Freedom Field Airport in Medina, Ohio.
King holds a commercial pilot license with instrument rating, a flight instructor certificate, and a repairman experimental aircraft certificate for his experimental aircraft, N12YR.
Mostly, King flies for pleasure in the Glastar experimental built aircraft that he built. He started building the Glastar in 2000 and made the first flight on July 21, 2012. He owns and keeps his experimental airplane in a hangar at Butler County Regional Airport in Fairfield.
Over the years he has owned several single engine airplanes, and has logged 2,900 total flying hours; 245 of those hours have been during the last three years while flying his experimental built Glastar, N12YR.
He is a member of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association); the local EAA Chapter 194 (Butler County Regional Airport); and a member and past President (1998) of the local EAA Chapter 174 (Cincinnati).
King has attended the EAA AirVenture Fly in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, every year (missed one year due to bad weather) for the last 25 years. Next year, for the fourth time, he will be flying N12YR to Oshkosh, and as usual will be aircraft camping in the Homebuilders Camping Area.
The Wright Brothers “Master Pilot” Award is the most prestigious award the FAA issues to pilots certified under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 61. This award is named after the Wright Brothers, the first US pilots, to recognize individuals who have exhibited professionalism, skill, and aviation expertise for at least 50 years while piloting aircraft as “Master Pilots.”
A distinctive certificate and lapel pin is issued after application review and eligibility requirements have been met. Upon request, a stickpin similar in design to the lapel pin is also provided to the award recipient’s spouse in recognition of his or her support to the recipient’s aviation career. Once the award has been issued, the recipient’s name, city and state will be added to a published “Roll of Honor” at www.faasafety.gov.
To be eligible for the Wright Brothers MPA, nominees must meet the following criteria:
•hold a U.S. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) or FAA pilot certificate;
•have 50 or more years of civil and military flying experience;
•up to 20 years of the required 50 years may be U.S. military experience;
•the effective start date for the 50 years is the date of the nominee’s first solo flight or military equivalent;
•the 50 years may be computed consecutively or non-consecutively;
•be a U.S. citizen;
•have not had any airman certificate revoked.