by Cynthia Andrecheck
On April 26, 2024, over 100 family and friends gathered at the Alaska Aviation Museum on Lake Hood in Anchorage, AK, to honor two aviation legends – Craig Emery and Tom Ratledge. Tom Palmer, FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) Program Manager, presented the Wright Brothers Master Pilot award to Craig and the Wright Brothers Master Pilot and the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic awards to Tom. These are the most prestigious awards issued by the FAA to pilots and mechanics.
According to the FAA website, “The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award is named in honor of Orville and Wilbur Wright who were two American aviation pioneers credited with inventing, building, and flying the world’s first successful motor-operated airplane. The Wright Brothers made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.”
Their website also states, “The Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award is named in honor of Mr. Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight. The Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of senior mechanics. Mr. Taylor served as the Wright brothers’ mechanic and is credited with designing and building the engine for their first successful aircraft.”
Both awards recognize U. S. citizen aviators and aviation mechanics who have demonstrated at least 50 years of service in their fields and have not had any airmen certificates revoked.
Craig started flying in June of 1972 in a Schweizer glider at the age of 14. Then on his 16th birthday, he soloed seven different airplanes: 2 types of Champs, 2 types of Citabrias, a PA-12, Cessna 172 and Cessna 150.
In 1989 Craig started Craig Air in Bethel, serving the people of the YK delta. Today he holds the position of Chief Pilot at Spernak’s in Anchorage. Craig has been flying over 52 consecutive years and has accumulated over 22,000 flight hours; he holds numerous pilot certificates including ASEL, ASES, AMEL, AMES, CFI, Commercial, Instrument, A&P, and IA.
Tom soloed on November 17, 1965, in Orlando, FL, in a Piper PA-22-108 Colt, N5796Z, after serving 4 years in the US Navy. In 1969, Tom attended Colorado Aero Tech and obtained his Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) license. With these tools in his bag, he headed off the beaten path.
His first commercial flying job was crop dusting where he honed his stick and rudder skills, flying low and slow. In late summer of 1974, Tom drove the dusty, unpaved ALCAN to Alaska, landing in Bethel, flying for and subsequently buying Executive Charter Service.
In late 1979, Tom bought a used Bell 47G helicopter, hired an instructor, and earned his helicopter rating, soloing with just 4.8 hours of dual. Over the past 45 years, Tom has had all manner of helicopter jobs from searching for oil and minerals with geologists on the North Slope to locating eagle nests on the Kuskokwim Delta with USFWS bird experts, retrieving countless disabled aircraft, and gently slinging a wayward wood bison from the village of Grayling to a meadow 22 miles away where it was welcomed by its peers.
Over his flying career, Tom has accumulated over 34,500 flight hours, about a third of that in helicopters and the rest primarily in single engine Cessnas.
As Tom Palmer said in his remarks, that’s 1,437 days in the air! Tom holds many FAA certificates including ASEL, ASES, AMEL, Commercial, Instrument, ATP, Rotorcraft, Helicopter Instrument, A&P, IA.
These two aviators have joined a small group of award recipients. According to Mr. Palmer, only 8410 people in the entire country have earned the Wright Brothers Master Pilot award, and only 117 of them are in Alaska. Only 3471 people have earned the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic award, 139 of them in Alaska. And rarer still, only 1000 people nationwide have earned both. Tom is one of 20 in Alaska to have that distinction.
Congratulations to both Craig and Tom. And thanks to all the folks who kept the awards gathering a secret and a complete surprise until the minute they walked in the door!
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