Sundlun's no longer driving -- but he's still flying
8:00 PM Thu, Jun 04, 2009 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Bruce G. Sundlun has surrendered his driver's license, but the 89-year-old former governor is still licensed to fly a plane and he said on a radio talk show Thursday that he took the controls of one as recently as two months ago. In an interview with WPRO's John DePetro, Sundlun said he needed to make a quick trip from T.F. Green Airport, where he had gone to greet Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, to Hartford for a 2-year-old granddaughter's birthday party. He said he asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Arthur Votolato, who keeps a plane at Green, if he could give him a lift. "He said 'Sure, I'll fly you over there,''' Sundlun recounted, "And when I got in the plane, he took it off, but I flew it over and I flew back." Records show that Votolato, 78, has a private pilot's certificate issued in 1993. Sundlun has a commercial pilot's certificate for single-engine and multiengine aircraft iissued in 1973. Sundlun surrendered his driver's license in late April at the urging of family and friends after he was the target of a series of complaints including speeding, minor accidents, driving through stop signs and driving on the sidewalk.
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lol!!!
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Another Sundlun moment. He also said on WPRO that flying is like driving: you never forget. Seems the old fool forgot he had his drivers license jerked because he couldn't drive. I can't wait the first time he lands on a taxiway or a road thinking it's the runway.
Why can't this guy just go away?
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With the qualified pilot next to him at the controls Mr Sundlun was not doing anything wrong or dangerous. Many non-pilots get the opportunity to experience controlling an airplane in this manner. The qualified pilot must perform the take-off and landing and is always ready to take control of the airplane if needed.
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How come you don't have to renew a pilot's license like you do a driver's license?
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Old Brucie is a nut case. Doesn't he get the fact that he is a walking,did drive, flying danger to the public? Somebody has to stop him. I really think the old bat thinks he is above the law. Lets hope he doesn't crash into a jet with a couple of hundred people on borad than the headlines will read HE DIDN'T MEAN IT. business as usual in RI.
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Loss of pilot's license should be automatic with loss fo driver's license.
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On one hand, I admire these old guys for being able to keep doing things they love and hope I do as well in another three-to-five decades.
From what I've heard, just flying en-route really is the easy part (an auto-pilot can do it after all)... it's the taking off and (especially) landing that'll get ya. It sounds from the story that Votolato handled that. I'm guessing the story would have mentioned if *his* license had been surrendered.
Do remember that Sundlun *surrendered* his license; it wasn't revoked. Grudgingly, true, and perhaps later than it should have been, but give him some credit for that.
On the other hand, the thought that my home might be under their flight path is a little scary.
LEC, I'm pretty sure that these small aircraft are kept a greatly different elevations from commercial jets, so the likelihood of such a crash is pretty small.
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In reference to the person who said that commercial aircraft fly at different altitudes than small planes, all planes share most of the same altitudes on the way up and on the way back down. If Sundlun was not Rich and an Ex-Governor. the FAA would come a knockin.
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It's reassuring to know that Sundlun is no longer a menace to other drivers. The bad news is; now we face the prospect of him flying airplanes possibly becoming a projectile capable of injuring/killing himself and many others. Doesn't he qualify for the veterans home or something?
Stories about him have gotten really tired!
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