Hurricane pilot wins prestigious “Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award”

Hurricane resident and pilot Wayne Loeber will be honored on Thursday, Oct. 1, when representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration arrive in southern Utah to present Loeber with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. This award recognizes civilian pilots who have conducted 50 years or more of safe operations and integrity in the field of aviation without any violations or accidents.

The award is named after the Wright Brothers, two American sibling inventors and aviation pioneers who are credited with building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on Dec. 17, 1903.

The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award is one of the highest honors that can be awarded to a civilian pilot. As a “Master Pilot,” a distinctive certificate and lapel pin is awarded to the individual pilot. A pin is also given to the spouse in recognition of his or her support of the recipient’s aviation career. In this case the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award will be awarded to Wayne and his spouse, Cindy Loeber.

In an interview with The Independent, Cindy Loeber said, “As long as we have known each other, Wayne has always been building an airplane or flying one, that’s what he likes to do.”

Rick Stednitz, the Federal Aviation Administration Safety Team program manager, will be presenting the award. Once the award has been issued, the recipient’s name, city and state will be added to the Wright Brothers Master Pilot “Roll of Honor.” No other aviation award is more ‘highly respected, greatly prized or coveted’ than the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. The award represents the ‘pinnacle’ of civilian aviation. Wayne Loeber’s name will be written on the annals of aviator history on the ‘Roll of Honor’ with other airmen with the same distinction. Very few civilian pilots in America have met the criteria to be nominated or awarded the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.

“Wayne Loeber is known as a true professional, very cooperative and always willing to pass on his  professionalism and knowledge.” — Art Granger

Jeff Hamilton, a friend of Loeber’s, was instrumental in processing the application for the award and provided the Independent with the details of Loeber’s flying career.

Loeber began his flying career and completed his first solo flight in a Piper Super Cub single engine aircraft on the afternoon of March 13, 1965. This started his fifty years in flight.

Initially, he joined a flying club in San Diego to build hours and experience. He continued on and received his Private Pilot Certificate, Instrument Flight Rating, Commercial Pilot Rating, Certified Flight Instructor Rating and Airline Transport Rating.

Loeber worked for Gibbs Flying Service at Montgomery Field in San Diego as a flight instructor while attending San Diego State. While working for Gibbs, he received his Multi Engine Rating, giving him the ability to fly twin engine aircraft. He began transporting cancelled checks for Bank of America throughout the state of California in addition to other flying duties.

In 1970, the airlines weren’t hiring, but Loeber stated, “Luck once again came into play for me when Global Associated gave me a co-pilot job flying DC-4’s and Caribou’s based in the Marshall Islands.”

Continuing  to build experience and flight time, Loeber was hired by Western Airlines in December of 1972 and flew as Flight Engineer on Boeing 707s and 720s. He spent the next 32 years with Western—which eventually was bought out by Delta Airlines in 1987—flying Boeing aircraft all the way from Boeings 707, 737, 757, 767 to McDonnell Douglas 88s and on to jumbo jets, including the DC-10.

After retiring early at age 56 from Delta Airlines, he kept the flying streak alive by building a ‘homebuilt’ aircraft called the Harmon Rocket and later building another homebuilt  F-1 Rocket which he still owns and flies it to this day.

“I’m proud of my 50 year plus flying career. It is and has always been a passion of mine. The aviation joy continues and I’m looking forward to another 30 plus years of pure aviation enjoyment.”

Loeber said, “I missed ‘big iron’ (big airplanes) and had the crazy opportunity to fly a four-month contract flying Islamic pilgrims called ‘Hajj’s’ from North Africa to Saudi Arabia.” He needed to be type rated, a rating for a specific aircraft, and that type rating needed to be for a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.  In the aviation industry, as one works for airlines or regional carriers, the company pays for your type ratings. However, Loeber paid for the first individual and only self-funded rating for the jumbo jet.

After landing in Dubai to meet the rest of the crew, Loeber found the aircraft to be, “a very tired old Pan Am Boeing 747 that had been first delivered into the airline industry in 1972.”

“This operation was completely nuts,” he said. “No scheduled maintenance for the aircraft, no weather briefings for the routes to be flown, no dispatchers, no security and very little radar coverage. All transactions were done in cash. We carried as much as $100,000 in cash to pay for fuel, landing fees, the permission to overfly certain areas and bribes.”

Loeber said that by the end of the trip, it was “the best experience ever,” but once was enough and he made no plans on returning the next year.

After returning home, he went to work for NetJets on his 60th birthday. For the next three and a half years, he flew co-pilot on the 800XP Jet, quickly learning that the NetJet environment was very demanding and required more overall knowledge than the airlines.

Loeber is currently flying his own aircraft, but he is also participating in a variety of other adventures, including flying the first of a new class of very light jets with the latest in design and technology.

Backcountry flying—flying in areas with unimproved, unpaved runways in mountainous or desert terrain—is now a big interest for Loeber. He also volunteers and supports the Recreational Aviation Foundation. The RAF’s mission is to keep the legacy of recreational aviation strong by preserving, maintaining and creating public use of recreational and back country airstrips nationwide.

“Wayne Loeber is known as a true professional, very cooperative and always willing to pass on his professionalism and knowledge to pilots at the Hurricane Airport and around the area,” said Art Granger, Hurricane Airport Manager. “Loeber is a member of the Backcountry Flyers Association and is always willing to help other backcountry pilots in flight planning and aircraft preparation.”

Loeber said, “I’m proud of my 50-year-plus flying career. I have about 25,000 hours of flight time. I attribute a lot of it to being at the right place at the right time. I’ve always been involved in aviation, and I’ve flown as many aircraft as I could, all the way from ultralights to jumbo jets. It is and has always been a passion of mine. The aviation joy continues, and I’m looking forward to another 30-plus years of pure aviation enjoyment. As you can tell, I am positive my aviation good fortune will continue.”