Real Superheroes

It’s interesting how the world is fascinated by Hollywood’s heroes the “Avengers.” The recent release of Avengers Endgame in a very short time grossed revenues of over $2 billion demonstrating the insane level of spellbound people. And, in an even more bazar twist recently New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker declared he is "Spartacus."

The Avengers are not real, they just play like superheroes and only do so with the magic of digital cinema, costumes, green screen, harness and ropes to give the illusion of super strength and super speed.

However, superheroes have walked among us. I know because I spent the better part of 15-years with them.

The superheroes I knew looked like ordinary people and they were except for a few traits that raised them above common people. These superheroes like the Avengers served others, but it was the effort and determination that drove them, that made them superheroes.

It is much easier to have the illusion of a being superhero today, with modern technology and its instant access to information.

The superheroes of past lived in the modern world, but there were no cell phone or computers. In fact, there were no cordless phones as the handset was wired to the base and the base was plugged into the wall or post. Public phones were pay phones and required pocket change to use them.

There were no handheld computers, in fact there were no personal or desktop computers, there was no Facebook, internet, twitter, Instagram, because there was no internet. Fax was the biggest technological advancement and only the large companies had such a marvel.

Aviation was on the leading edge of technology, but change was slow and steady as over a 40-year period not many big jumps in aviation had been made.

The superheroes of the past could fly, they had wings and they even had telepathy.

The superheroes I knew were Rocky Mountain Airways pilots. Yes, they had wings on their chest, and they could fly. Boy, could they fly! 

Modern day pilots deserve a great deal of respect, but to put things in perspective, todays fully automated, glass-cockpit aircraft can fly themselves and the assistance they get from ground based instruments and communications are light-years ahead of aircraft like the De Havilland Twin Otter and Dash-7, which had little more than needle-ball- and airspeed instruments and the pilots had very limited ground based assistance.

The story begins in 1965 when the company was founded by Gordon Autry, as Vail Airways. Gordon piloted the 6-passenger Aero Commander. While the early days were marked with boot strap ingenuity and simple promotional gimmicks, the airline began to take shape.

 Professional timetables were circulated showing the all-encompassing reason for the airline – skiing, and by the end of the first year a total of 240 passengers had been carried. During those initial years the operation was completely shut down during the summer months. There simply wasn’t enough traffic.

 The operation at the Eagle Airport (EGE) was VFR only which simply meant flights could only be made in clear skies. So that a better flight completion could be possible, Mr. Autry himself installed an NDB in 1967 giving the ability to make instrument approaches to the airport.

 In 1968, Mr. Autry applied for and was awarded a route to ASE. At this time the name Vail Airways was changed to Rocky Mountain Airways.

 RMA carried over a million people to the ski areas in its fleet of unpressurized, 19-passenger de Havilland Twin Otter. Passengers often imitated the two-man crew by removing the oxygen mask and sucking on the tube. It was not unusual for the passengers to fill up their sick sacks as the aircraft bounced around and ice was slung off the props onto the side of the fuselage.

 Non-precision approaches allowed the airline all-weather capability, but better approaches were desired, and in 1972 RMA entered into a joint study program with Singer Kearfott to evaluate and provide the necessary documentation for a microwave landing system (MLS), a full-precision approach called “TALAR” A system that had been developed for military use in Southeast Asia to permit precision landing approaches in terrain and weather conditions that would distort conventional radio beam Instrument Landing Systems (ILS). 

Company-owned MLS were installed in SBS and ASE in 1973. In addition to TALAR, RMA installed electronic aids at SBS and ASE including strobes, obstruction lights, Visual Approach (VASI) lights and runway lights. RMA established Supplementary Aviation Weather Reporting Stations (SAWRS) for its own use in SBS and WHR, which were approved by the National Weather Service.

RMA pilots flew the steepest high angle precision approaches in the United States. Aspen and Steamboat were 6° and the Avon STOLport was flown at 7°which caused the passengers to literally slide forward in their seats and hang on their seatbelts! 

 Telepathy, they must have had the ability to read minds, because if you wanted a message to be spread quickly, you just told a pilot that it was confidential information and in less than 20 minutes the entire airline knew and generally other airlines also knew! Although archaic by the standards of today, they did have air-to-ground radios, but the frequencies were monitored by FAA and the company. But somehow, they spread the word!

Gordon Autry presenting Captain Chuck Barmettler with a Dash-7 High Time award.

The reason the RMA pilots were superheroes was because they had a superhero father, like Thor’s father Odin, only their father Gordon Autry was shorter. Gordon stood 5’7” tall, but he acted like he was 7’ tall and most everyone thought he was! But it was the environment that Gordon created that encouraged and allowed people be superheroes – the freedom to fail!

The magic of the RMA days was the lack of government interference and a combined loyalty and drive to succeed!

The airline grew out of the cash box, which meant it was not beholding to influences that could direct it by personal agendas. And the airline had a sense of ‘family’ where everyone depended on everyone else and the underlying feeling of responsibility was that cancelled flights, for whatever reason would bring the company closer to a shut down.

The lack of government interference was by design. RMA was self-sufficient as it funded and built its own infrastructure. Gordon had a key philosophy: if you take government money, the government will tell you how to run your business. And that applied to not only the federal government, but local governments as well.

By way of example RMA paid for and constructed passenger terminals, non-precision and full precession landing aids including runway and obstruction lights, VASI and REIL. RMA provided its own shuttle service between the Eagle Airport and Vail. The best example was the private funding and construction of the Avon STOLport, an entire airport with runway, ramp terminal, full precision TALAR approach and all the secondary aids, also, the construction of a water and wastewater system to serve the terminal.

Rocky Mountain Airways pilots flew for Vail Airways and RMA between 1965 and 1986, when the airline was sold to Texas Air and began operating as Continental Express. 

RMA flights departing Denver (DEN) carried enough fuel for a round-trip plus a 30-minute reserve.

Twin Otter and Dash 7 Captains were known for their aviation skills and perseverance. They needed weather minimum to depart DEN and then they needed landing minimums at their destination to be legal to start the approach.

Flights to the ski destinations were dispatched with enough fuel to make a roundtrip plus 45-minuters of reserve fuel. If a flight started the approach and the station told them the weather had gone below minimums, it was at the Captain’s discretion as to continue the approach or execute a missed approach. RMA captains would generally continue the approach and often execute a landing as mountain weather fluctuated and would frequently go above minimums! If the weather was below minimums when the flight was ready to start its approach, the aircraft would hold if it could, to see it the weather improved enough to begin the approach. 

When RMA began flying as Continental Express the pilots no longer acted like superheroes as the airline was now part of a larger organization that had deep-pockets and had a different standard of dispatching, completing flights and procedures in-route or making a missed approach! The new environment was just different from the old RMA!

The RMA standards were incredibly high, and it was a real sense of accomplishment to become a Rocky Mountain Airways Captain.

Yesterday’s Superheroes were Real Superheroes!

Left Captain Larry Denton, right