Bio: Ludwig, Al - Earns Master Pilot Award (2021)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Ludwig, Fiero, Smith

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 3/17/2021

Neillsville Native Earns Master Pilot Award (Ludwig - 2021)



Al Ludwig, who grew in Neillsville, recently received the highest award one can earn from the Federal Aviation Administration, that being the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. Submitted photo

A western Wisconsin man has flown into the stratosphere of recognition in the aviation field after a lengthy career in pilot’s cabins.

Neillsville native Al Ludwig was recently recognized for his long and accomplished aviation career. He earned the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, the most prestigious award the Federal Aviation Administration issues to pilots. 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”

“It’s with great honor and pride that we present to you, on behalf of the FAA, the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for your dedication to safety and professionalism in aviation… It’s well deserved,” said Christine Fiero, manager of the FAA Flight Standards District Office in Minneapolis, to Ludwig during a virtual award ceremony.

Ludwig was born in Milwaukee. When he was over a year old, his family moved to a property just a few miles south and west of Neillsville on Maple Road, where he grew up. Ludwig graduated from Neillsville High School in 1966.

Ludwig first realized his love for flying while riding along in a family friend’s small airplane.

“If I remember correctly, it was with Walter Embke, from Marshfield, a previous Master Pilot Award winner,” Ludwig said.

He began pursuing that dream after taking a short lesson in an airplane at the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport while in college. Ludwig turned to the U.S. Army to find that they were looking for helicopter pilots. He joined and after two months of basic training at Fort Polk, LA., he began flight training at Fort Wolters, TX. He completed his first solo flight in 1969.

After primary training, Ludwig and his wife, Chris, traveled to Fort Rucker, AL, for him to receive more advanced training, and he graduated from there with the silver wings of an Army Aviator in July 1970. Ludwig finished in the top 10 percent of his class of 120 students in flight school. After a couple, more weeks of attack helicopter training at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, GA, it was off to Vietnam.

Ludwig spent a one-year term in Vietnam as an attack helicopter pilot, where he was shot down. After Vietnam, he went back to Fort Rucker for more training prior to being sent to Germany. He spent three years there as an instrument inspector and flight instructor.

After that, he got approved to finish college, returned to the states and earned a business degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He then moved to California and was part of the Independent Ready Reserve at Fort Ord. He led simulator training and flight training there.

Ludwig enjoyed having the opportunity to teach others throughout his aviation career.

“When I was a student at Neillsville, I was interested in becoming a teacher and I was part of the Future Teachers of America group, but I loved to fly so I got into that. But I was able to do both by becoming a flight instructor,” he said.



Al Ludwig was in the U.S. Army for 10 years. He is shown in the Bell AH-1 Cobra helicopter, also known as “The Snake,” in Vietnam in 1971. Submitted photo

After 10 years in the Army, Ludwig moved to the Midwest and spent another 16 years in the Army Reserve based in St. Paul, MN. During his time in the Reserves, he would go flying one weekend a month to maintain his skills.

“I was looked up to as the leader in the unit. A lot of people would come to me with questions,” he said.

While in the Army Reserve, he flew for several different companies and individuals, giving rides and doing photo flights. He also flew as an instructor at the University of North Dakota in both helicopters and airplanes from 1985 to 1992, and later did some flight training for the Minnesota State Patrol.

Ludwig retired from the military in 1995. It was in the U.S. Army Reserves that he met up with a fellow army aviator, Ron Smith, who flew the same area in Vietnam, and was also a gunship pilot. They continued their careers with Air Care, of North Memorial Health Care after the Army Reserve.



A large part of Al Ludwig’s career was spent as an emergency helicopter pilot and pilot instructor, first for Life Link III and then for North Memorial Health Care. Submitted Photo

Ludwig lived in Hudson while working as an emergency helicopter pilot. In 1992, he began flying the Life Link III out of the St. Paul, MN airport. He mainly transported patients from Minnesota and western Wisconsin, but occasionally went into South Dakota or Iowa. In 2000, he started working for North Memorial Health Care. He served as chief pilot, and most of his time was spent training other pilots or doing office work. However, when someone was absent he would fly EMS flights. He also did training flights.

When Ludwig started at North Memorial Health Care, there were only three bases to fly out of, but that number expanded to seven, including six in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin. Ludwig retired from North Memorial Health Care in 2011, although he continued working part-time consulting until finally fully retiring from there in 2020. He now lives in Eau Claire.

Ludwig continued teaching throughout the years as a helicopter and airplane instructor. From 1993 to 2009, he was a designated pilot examiner for the FAA for the private pilot certification, commercial pilot certification, instrument rating and airline pilot certification. He was also designated to give the rotorcraft helicopter certified instructor and the rotorcraft helicopter certified instrument instructor certification rides. He also worked as a Sutton James Insurance safety auditor for Robinson helicopter pilots, and as a checkout pilot and flight review instructor for Minnesota helicopters.

“The talent that you have for [teaching] and your willingness to share that with folks I think is one of the greatest impacts you’ve made to aviation safety; certainly, around here in Minnesota,” said Fiero.

Ludwig holds the Airline Transport Pilot Rating in helicopters, the highest rating that can be held. He also holds an airplane rating, and instrument ratings in both, and is an instructor and instrument instructor in both helicopters and airplanes. These days all of his flying is with his remote pilot certificate, flying his drone.

During his career, he has flown the Army TH55 Osage and the civilian version H300 (Schweizer300), the Army TH13 Sioux and the civilian version Bell 47, the Army UH-1 “Huey”, and the AH-1 Huey Cobra, the Army OH58 Kiowa and the civilian model, the Bell 206, the Bell 222, the Sikorsky S76, the Hughes 500 and the Agusta A109.

Ludwig was appreciative of the award and being honored in this way. He said that flying has always been a joy for him.

“What don’t I enjoy about it? I could have a headache and when I went flying, it disappeared,” he said. “I enjoyed the scenery around me. It’s hard to explain, the freedom of flight. There are no roads; you can go where you want to go. The tension of driving on the road is just not there in the air.”

He said his favorite time to fly would be a winter night when the moon is shining “bright as day,” and all is quiet and calm.

In addition to aviation, Ludwig’s interests include spending time with his family, computers, teaching, camping and reading.

Editor Valorie Brecht contributed to this report.

 

 


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