Retired Game Warden Gets Prestigious Award

A retired Maine game warden pilot recently received the FAA’s most prestigious award. Retired Game Warden Pilot Gary Dumond received the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award given at Old Town, Maine yesterday.

Dumond served with the Maine Warden Service from 1972 to 1992 as a game warden pilot. He has continued to fly with the Warden Service on an as-needed basis as a reserve pilot and instructor, more recently over the last year. Dumond flew helicopters in Vietnam prior to flying for the State of Maine. He has accumulated 21,000 hours of safe flying over his lifetime and has been responsible for saving many lives and locating many lost persons.

Gary lives with his wife Pauline in Eagle Lake and remains as passionate about airplanes and flying as ever. “Flying with Gary Dumond is like traveling with a living history book. From the air, Dumond will see a lake, pond or old sporting camp and will often have a story to tell about it” stated Jeffrey Beach, current Chief Pilot for the Maine Warden Service.

The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award is the most prestigious award the FAA issues to pilots certified under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 61. This award is named after the Wright Brothers, the first US pilots, to recognize individuals who have exhibited professionalism, skill, and aviation expertise for at least 50 years while piloting aircraft as “Master Pilots”.

A distinctive certificate and lapel pin is issued after application review and eligibility requirements have been met. Upon request, a stickpin similar in design to the lapel pin is also provided to the award recipient’s spouse in recognition of his or her support to the recipient’s aviation career. Once the award has been issued, the recipient’s name, city and state is added to a published “Roll of Honor” located at https://www.faasafety.gov/content/MasterPilot/RecipientList.aspx. Congratulations, Gary!

Photo from left to right is newly hired Game Warden Pilot Chris Hilton, Chief Game Warden Pilot Jeff Beach, Retired Game Warden Pilot Gary Dumond, Retired Game Warden Pilot Alan Ryder, Former Chief Game Warden Pilot (Sergeant) Durward Humphrey, and Game Warden Pilot Jeff Spencer.

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.