Name: Gail Hammans
Age: 71
Event: Private pilot checkride
Where: Tulsa International Airport, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Airplane: Piper Cherokee 140
The excitement of flying and being around aircraft started at an early age when my folks’ best friend returned from World War II after having served as a Corsair pilot. His stories and pictures were spellbinding. I took my first lesson at age 18. During the first lesson I was told that needing corrective lenses would prevent me from flying for a living, so I placed my desires on hold and went on with my life.
Completing military service in 1965, I went to work for Continental Airlines as a ramp agent, then ramp safety, ticket agent, and finally as a director of passenger services. Finally, my wife and I—having raised three families, retirement upon us, and still in good health—decided that it was time to relight the fires or forget it. I bought, sight unseen, a beautiful 1976 Piper Cherokee PA-28-140, and after three CFIs, medical setbacks, a daughter serving in Iraq and later in Afghanistan, over a span of two years I finally made it.
My private checkride examiner, Lee Romanek, made that experience interesting, educational, exciting, and downright enjoyable. Flying is all that I ever thought it would be—and much more.
Related Articles
