Joe Murphy, FAA Safety Team Program Manager from North Texas presents the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award to Gerard Dale Pearson of Frankston during a ceremony on Tuesday at the Tyler Historic Aviation Memorial Museum in Tyler. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Gerard Dale Pearson, 77, was 14 years old in 1956 when he got his first flight lesson. He said he got a job at the air dome in his hometown in Illinois and earned flying lessons for washing and cleaning an airplane at the small grass landing strip.

Since then, Pearson went on to become a naval aviator. He logged more than 11,000 hours in the cockpit, including more than 150 combat missions in Vietnam, and was a commercial and private pilot and a flight instructor.

Pearson, who moved to the Frankston area about three years ago, was awarded the Federal Aviation Administration’s highest honor for flying safety in a small ceremony Tuesday at the Tyler Historic Aviation Memorial Museum.

About a dozen fellow pilots, friends and family gathered at the museum to see Pearson accept the the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, the most prestigious award the FAA issues to pilots certified under the Code of Federal Regulations.

The award is named after the Wright Brothers, the first U.S. pilots, to recognize individuals who have exhibited professionalism, skill and aviation expertise for at least 50 years while piloting aircraft as Master Pilots.

Joe Murphy, FAA Safety Team program manager from North Texas, presented Pearson the framed certificate and lapel pin.

“It represents no accidents, incidents or civil penalties for 50 or more years of flying,” he said. “It’s an icon for aviation. It’s a pilot who shows he mentored other pilots.”

Murphy shared with the group a brief summary of Pearson’s flying career.

Pearson became a naval aviator in 1966, flying more than 150 combat mission over Vietnam.

Pearson stayed in the Navy Reserve and retired as a captain in 1989.

He flew as a commercial pilot for Trans World Airlines and retired from the company in 1991.

Pearson is also a private pilot, a glider pilot and a flight instructor.

Pearson estimated he has more than 11,000 hours in the cockpit, and said he has not retired from general aviation because he still likes messing around with flying machines.

“In the aviation world, our world is changing at an accelerating rate,” he said. “Keeping up with aircraft is a task. Older aviators need to know when to say when. I’m not hanging it up just yet, but I’m nearing that point.”

Pearson said he has owned nine aircraft and would like to own at least one more plane before he retires from the cockpit.

He jokingly said his wife doesn’t believe him when he says it’s his last one.

“I think 10 might be a better number to stop at,” he said. “My wife doesn’t believe me when I say, ‘No kidding, honey, this is the last airplane.’”

Pearson joins about 4,200 other pilots who have been awarded the certificate.

Pearson’s wife of 58 years, Sharon, pinned the lapel pin on her husband’s shirt and they shared a kiss at the lectern. 

Pearson acknowledged his wife’s loyalty to his profession.

“She’s been with me since I was a sophomore in college,” he said.

Murphy also presented Pearson with a “blue ribbon” package of his flight records as a memento of the occasion.

Pearson invited Mark Yost, his longtime friend and former executive officer in his Navy Reserve unit, to speak.

Yost talked about Pearson’s love of flying and his service and sacrifices for his career in aviation.

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