Veteran CFI: Ralph Truglio

Truglio taught the pilot to fly when he really was a kid, at age 16, and Truglio was 43. Now this kid is 67 years old, and Truglio is 94.

Truglio has been a CFI for 60 years. Here’s the cool part: He never charged a dime.

Truglio got his pilot certificate as part of the Civilian Pilot Training Program in 1942, joined the military, and stayed in until he got his teaching certification. He went into the reserves and started teaching industrial arts in high school. One day in 1955 the principal told Truglio that he wanted him to take over the school’s flying club, the Afterburners.

Like all high school clubs, the Afterburners needed a group picture, but they didn’t have an airplane to use as a backdrop. A couple of Afterburners were also members of Kitty Hawk Squadron 3, sponsored by the North Hollywood Optimist Club. Squadron 3, at Van Nuys Airport, owned an airplane—which the kids suggested for the photos. Truglio started spending his weekends helping at the squadron. In 1960 he got his flight instructor certificate, began instructing kids every Saturday, and held ground school every Monday night. In 1983, after 36 years as a teacher, Truglio retired and turned to flight instructing full time. In fact, he pretty much took over Squadron 3.

A decade ago, to mark his fiftieth anniversary with the squadron, some former students put together a celebration at a hotel nearby. “So many of the kids would come to me and say ‘Remember me?’ I said, ‘No.’ I have no idea how many I’ve instructed in this group,” he added. Of his 8,000 hours, 7,500 of it has been instructing.

During the party, daughter Nancy stuck close by. “The thing that touched me most,” she said, “people would come up and say ‘Hi, Mr. Truglio, I flew with you in the ’50s, ’60s, ’80s.’ They had grown up and had families, and brought their kids with them. It showed me that this was more than teaching kids to fly. It was laying the groundwork for their lives. It was one of those things that had impact in so many ways.”

She paused. “It’s been his life,” she added. “He showed the kids what’s possible.”