AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014 - 30

PILOT BRIEFING
THREE AMIGOS DO VEGAS
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PEOPLE

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GREG KOONTZ IS THE 2014 WINNER of the Bill Barber Award for Showmanship
given each year to an outstanding airshow performer. In his act, Koontz flies the
American Champion Super Decathlon, the Extreme Decathlon, and a Piper Cub
that is landed atop a truck. Koontz was a corporate jet pilot until 2002, when he
began performing in airshows full-time and teaching courses in basic aerobatics
and upset recovery for general aviation pilots at his ranch in Ashville, Alabama.
Prior to his corporate jet career he performed in Ernie Moser's Flying Circus
based in St. Augustine, Florida.
-Alton K. Marsh

THREE FRIENDS ages 70 and older mounted
up in their Champ, Murphy Rebel, and
amphibian Legend Cub aircraft for three
weeks and three days to land in all the
lower 48 United States.
Each had a nickname, says Tarry "Elder
Geezer" Bolger, 78, of Palestine, Illinois. He
was the oldest, beating Sam "Capt. Sam"
Kelso by a few months. Kelso earned lots
of hours as a corporate pilot for many of
the nation's largest corporations-enough
hours to be known as "captain." The baby
of the group was Tom "Tanker Tom"
Anderson, whose 44 gallons in his Murphy
Rebel rescued his friends along the way,
including once when an airport advertising fuel had none. A one-quart water bottle
served as the fuel transfer device.
Bolger had a carburetor problem in Las
Vegas and the group was forced to visit The
Strip for two hours. Kelso and Anderson
gambled $1 in slot machines and lost,
while Bolger "invested" $1 and won $10.
"Suddenly we went from Three Amigos to
The Three Musketeers, and the other two
wanted me to share because it was 'All for
one.' I wouldn't do it," Bolger said. -AKM

MIRA SLOVAK DIES AT 84

30 | AOPA PILOT September 2014

TOP: PHOTO COURTESY GREG KOONTZ; BOTTOM: MAX HAYNES

EYES IN THE SKY

When your city is only 16 blocks long and 10 blocks wide, there isn't always a
choice of ophthalmologists, let alone a shopping center. But if there is an airport,
such as the one at Gettysburg, South Dakota, the doctors from larger towns can
still make house calls-or airport calls, in this case.
Dr. John Bormes of Aberdeen, South Dakota, routinely sees patients at offices
in four small South Dakota towns thanks to his Piper Seneca III, cutting travel
time in half. All four have airports immediately beside the town. Trips that are
100 or more miles by car become 60- to 80-mile jaunts by air. He travels by car
to three additional offices.
Bormes also owns a 1942 Stearman PT-17 and a North American T-6. -AKM

SUFFERING UNDER both Nazi and Russian
oppression, Mira Slovak became a Czech
Airlines captain and took over one of the
company's flights in 1953 to make his
escape from communism with fellow pilots
who were co-conspirators. He planned
to fly to London but weather there was
poor. He was intercepted by two U.S. Air
Force F-84 jets and escorted to their base
at Frankfort, Germany. He later became a
U.S. citizen.
He was an airshow pilot, a Continental
Airlines pilot, a Reno winner in the top
Unlimited Gold category at the 1964
National Championship Air Races, and a
hydroplane race champion. Boat and plane
crashes sent him to the hospital four times.
At Santa Paula, California, he became the
airport legend and friend of movie stars.
Slovak died June 16 of stomach cancer at
his home in Fallbrook, California. -AKM
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014
