AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2019 - 47

AOPA NEWS

Travel just
got better

'The Great
Waldo Pepper'

New features available in directory

Film depicts a daring aviator
who wasn't, and some who were

AOPA HAS RELEASED its updated ratings and reviews
feature of AOPA's Airport Directory Online. From
the airport itself to FBOs, restaurants, flight schools,
and maintenance shops, pilots are encouraged to give
their feedback on all aspects of an airport's amenities
and to check the experience other pilots had at those
locations. The new rating functionality allows users
to provide up to five-star ratings, post reviews, upload
photos, and like other users' comments. Managers
and business owners can interact with customers
by responding to user comments, recognizing great
feedback, and addressing customer concerns that
would otherwise go unanswered. For both pilots
and airport businesses, the tools are designed to make
traveling with general aviation aircraft better.
"AOPA's rating and review platform is a great tool
to give pilots added confidence to get out, fly, explore,
and visit the thousands of great destinations that GA
can take them," said AOPA Senior Vice President of
Marketing Jiri Marousek. "Crowdsourced reviews
are a critical customer expectation today, and they
drive every industry to get better at serving our customers and foster transparency by sharing firsthand
experiences-it's a win for pilots, airport managers,
and local businesses."
AOPA's Airport Directory Online also has
an updated and rebuilt kneeboard format. The
kneeboard now displays traffic pattern altitudes
in addition to FAA-reported pattern altitudes.
Comments on runway conditions, noise abatement
information, pilot-activated lighting details, and
clearance delivery phone numbers are also available.
Users leaving reviews must be logged in to aopa.
org but do not need to be an AOPA member. Airport
and business managers do not need to have a paid
AOPA membership in order to respond to a review
but must have administrative access to their listing,
which is provided at no cost.
The new additions to the Airport Directory
Online combined with the AOPA travel portal and
biweekly AOPA Travel Pilot newsletter makes it easy
for pilots to discover fun new places to fly and share
their adventures.
aopa.org/travel

BY DENNIS K. JOHNSON

UNDER THE OPENING titles of
the 1975 movie The Great Waldo
Pepper-an exceptional barnstorming adventure film starring
Robert Redford-are images of an
old scrapbook album with photos and names of long-dead pilots.
The last time I watched the movie,
I wondered if these were real people or fictional fliers created by the
film's art department. It seems that
Hollywood got it right. They're all
actual barnstormers from the early
days of aviation-except one.
The pilots depicted are
Ormer Locklear (1891-1920), Earl
Daugherty (1887-1928), Speed
Holman (1898-1931), and Ernst Udet
(1896-1941). Locklear was a nationally known barnstormer, Hollywood
movie stunt pilot, and actor, even
though his career spanned just
two years. His "Locklear Flying
Circus" thrilled audiences across
the country, with Locklear jumping
between airplanes in flight. Locklear
starred in the 1919 film The Great
Air Robbery, which was produced
as a showcase for his aerial stunts.
In 1920, Locklear received the first
aviation law violation for "reckless
aerial driving" over Los Angeles.
He was killed in August while performing a nighttime spin for the film
The Skywayman, which was rushed
into theaters complete with the fatal
crash scene.

Earl Daugherty and Speed
Holman were also barnstorming
pilots of the era. Daugherty, like
Locklear, worked as a movie stunt
pilot. In 1928, Holman set the record
of 1,433 consecutive loops in an airplane. Like Locklear, they both died
in flying accidents.
The German pilot depicted in the
film was based on Ernst Udet, the
second-highest scoring German ace
of World War I. Between the wars,
Udet flew as a stunt pilot for movies
and in airshows. He died by suicide
during World War II.
The fictional Waldo Pepper, portrayed by Robert Redford, was a
compilation of many barnstormers,
and Pepper, too, died young. The
last scene of the film returns to the
photo album, with a picture of Waldo
and the caption, "Waldo Pepper,
1895-1931."
The Great Waldo Pepper received
mixed reviews from the critics,
although many were impressed by
the aerial scenes, which were photographed using real aircraft. There are
no model airplanes or computer-generated scenes in this film. It did well
in theaters, earning $20 million on a
$5 million budget. The Great Waldo
Pepper is rated PG, so it's a great film
to share with young pilots-to-be.
DENNIS K. JOHNSON is an aviation

writer living in New York.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2019

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