94-yr old CFI

Steve Robertson writes:

I had my PPL checkride with "Miss Evelyn" in 1983. I thought she was about
100 years old back then. Unlike most folks, I didn't especially care for her
(yes, I passed). But my hat's off to anybody that's still doing what they
want to do after nearly a century.

Evelyn is not, and never has been, someone who ignores errors. I suspect
that she would be a very bad politician, in that she has her high
standards and isn't willing to apply lower standards to anyone she
evaluates...and isn't hesitant about providing the evaluation in
no uncertain terms.

It's not always a pleasant experience for the recipient, although
I suggest that it is educational.

Although I never talked to her about it, I suspect that she got her
attitude from her first flight instructor, Elmer Wood. Elmer was
a gen-you-ine barnstormer who taught students (inlcuding Evelyn) in
the WWII Civilian Pilot Training program...and he was one of those
pilots who when they flew, the aircraft would *never* think of doing
anything that Elmer didn't want it to do.

One attribute that Evelyn didn't acquire from Elmer was a disdain for
the finer points of the CARs (now FARs); the title character in _The
Great Waldo Pepper_ reminds me of Elmer. I was terrified of him the
first time we met -- his signature is on the fourth line of my first
logbook -- but over the years we flew together several times and I
learned just how good a pilot, instructor, and friend he could be.

Although to the best of my knowledge they never met, I would think
that Evelyn and the late Grace Hopper (aka "Amazing Grace") would find
their personalities to be quite similar. (There might be some interesting
arguments too...)

I don't know if the NPR program mentioned it, but back in the (mid?)
1970s Evelyn was a participant on the TV quiz show "To Tell the Truth".
She was the one required to answer panelists' questions truthfuly,
but at this distance I cannot recall if the panel correctly identified
her.

Joe Morris

On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 16:24:11 -0500, "G.R. Patterson III"
wrote:

Perhaps the slant Rob is seeing is the result of bias on the part of his local
NPR feed? In that case, you would not necessarily be hearing the same thing.

My local NPR feed is Oregon Public Broadcasting these days.

Rob

"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...
NPR continued its above-the-rest quality aviation reporting this morning
with this story:
http://www.npr.org/display_pages/fea...e_1545986.html
Nice of them to include flying links on the page, too.

Who signed her off? Wilbur or Orville?

The truth is, the media is a corporate entity, and will usually do its best
to reflect whatever it perceives to be public opinion--in other words, just
like any other business, they seek to keep their customers happy and protect
their bottom line.

Quite true of the great majority of the printed and broadcast media.

If they were ever to truly fulfill their proper role as
an independent "fourth estate", they'd question every word out of our
leader's mouths.......,

That is exactly what the Founding Fathers intended them to do. It is
the primary reason for the part of the First Amendment that protects
the press from government harrassment.

...and then you'd *really* hear a lot of whining about "bias".

I guess it would depend on whose ox is being gored.

vince norris

I check in from time to time to keep up with who is victum of the
week.

A famous editor said it's the media's job to comfort the afflicted and
afflict the comfortable. A pretty good statement of the reason for the
First Amendment.

With hundreds of channels on the air all day and all night it
does need a bit over the top to for NPR to still receive involuntary
contributions from all of us though.

Well, most of the other broadcast and print media receive our
involuntary contributions, too, so fair is fair, I guess.

vince norris

On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 at 13:09:46 in message
, Robert Lyons
wrote:
KeiBeau wrote:

She's amazing ... I took my PPL checkride with her in 1982 ... in a
C152 and even then she got in and out better than me and I was 40
years her junior! It's good to know she's still there and putting
more of us in the air.


The article says she has *58,000* hours of flight time. That's more than
6.6 *years*!

At 260 'working days' a year that is 3.78 hours a day for 59 years.
--
David CL Francis

I know I'm a bit late getting back to this thread, Vince, but you'll be
pleased to know that we are now "under-writing" our local public radio
station, WSUI. (That's what they call "advertising"...)

Good for you!

I get most of my news from NPR, with a smattering of other talk radio, two
newspapers, and Yahoo News thrown in the mix. NPR, although occasionally
biased against conservatives,

If you mean they occasionally broadcast something you wish they
hadn't, that isn't necessarily bias. They also broadcast many things
the liberals wish they hadn't. You may not notice those, because they
don't offend you.

The longest-running program on public TV was Bill Buckley's talk show,
which ran for decades, till he retired. If the CPB were biased
against conservatives, they would't have aired such a show.

.... is an essential part of my day, and I put my money where my mouth is.

Fair enough!

vince norris

Well, most of the other broadcast and print media receive our
involuntary contributions, too, so fair is fair, I guess.

I know I'm a bit late getting back to this thread, Vince, but you'll be
pleased to know that we are now "under-writing" our local public radio
station, WSUI. (That's what they call "advertising"...)

I get most of my news from NPR, with a smattering of other talk radio, two
newspapers, and Yahoo News thrown in the mix. NPR, although occasionally
biased against conservatives, is an essential part of my day, and I put my
money where my mouth is.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"