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Unusual Attitudes: Wasn’t that a Time

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Hogan Air (later Miami Valley Aviation) was an airfreight company that struggled with FAA compliance and record-keeping despite employing skilled pilots and mechanics, leading to a certificate revocation and subsequent re-certification under new management.
  • The article recounts a disproportionate FAA investigation into chief pilot Kevin Uppstrom, who faced a proposed ATP revocation for "lack of good moral character" after playfully mooning an air traffic control tower during a charity flight.
  • The author, an FAA inspector, offers an insider's perspective on the bureaucratic challenges of aviation oversight, questioning the FAA's overzealous actions and reflecting on the human element and practical realities of small airfreight operations.
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I borrowed this title from a documentary about Pete Seeger and the Weavers because the phrase “wasn’t that a time” always comes to mind when I ­remember an airfreight company operating out of southwestern Ohio for nearly 30 years — first as Hogan Air and then Miami Valley Aviation.

Martha Lunken

Martha Lunken is a lifelong pilot, former FAA inspector and defrocked pilot examiner. She flies a Cessna 180 and anything with a tailwheel, from Cubs to DC-3s.

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