Sheriff E.A. "Doug" Hendry wasn't the only winged warrior who could make you want to keep your feet on the ground. Over the years there've been several.
One, we'll call Flip Flanagan, loved air searches. Flip liked to fly low so he could get a good view of the ground. Trouble was, one day he concentrated too much on the objects on the ground and not the tall things he was flying over. Like trees. He dipped his wing, to get a better look at something, caught the tip on a tall pecker-pole pine tree, and did a series of cartwheels with the Cessna. Had it been a gymnastic completion he'd probably earned 10's. But it wasn't. He ended up with a lengthy stay at NCH and the CCSO bought a new single-winger.
Flip had another plane crash on the runway. Who taught Flip how to fly? Good ol' E.A., himself.
One of my favorite pilots, Sonny Smirnoff, was probably the best I've ever flown with. A Vietnam vet, he could control a copter like no one else. I flew with him countless times, and was always comfortable that a talented master was in control. To my recollection he never had an accident.
Not all were so thrilled with him. Sonny, you see, was a notorious boozer. And he liked to warm up his personal engine, pre-flight, with a tankful of his own high octane joy juice. Said he got the habit in the war zone where he not only had to worry about keeping his bird in the air, but dodging enemy rockets and bullets at the same time. Yep, that'd sure put me on a barstool.
About the time Sonny was doing his thing there was a scandalous story in the news about airline pilots. It seems that after their regular re-certification test, one airline had required their pilots to take a surprise breathalyzer test. An embarrassing large number failed. They had, however, flown the prescribed test route perfectly.
Then, the airline had retested them, making sure they were sober. The same bunch now couldn't pass the test. They could do it drunk, but not sober.
So maybe Sonny knew what he was doing.
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