Thursday, October 28, 2010

Dubie “busting his ride” for governor?



Vermont Republican Brian Dubie’s no holds barred what ever it takes gubernatorial campaign has drawn plenty of criticism and hand wringing. According to reports Republican office holders in Vermont have urged him privately to cool it, claiming he is doing more harm than good.

While wondering about his character I searched back and found an AOPA magazine puff piece about Dubie from early in 2010 at the start of his campaign. Naturally AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots) magazine highlighted his being a pilot .They mention (Vermonters have heard this ad nauseum) that Dubie sees a direct parallel between the qualities of being a pilot and the skills needed to be a politician and assuming leadership role in government.

Here from the AOPA piece is one incident Dubie strangely brought, up an example from pilot training of parallel lines that may exist between the qualities of a pilot and useful leadership skills.If a student pilot “busts three rides ,he is washed out Some might see parallels between his story, his campaign and his remaining reputation.It’s actually surprising he brought this up at all, but he must be quite proud of his accomplishment.

One way to bust a ride was to get airsick.
Dubie climbed into a T-37 for his first military training flight on a hot summer day. After flying the pattern for a while with his instructor, he began to feel the effects of the heat. On the last pattern, the instructor turned to him and asked him how he felt. Increasingly queasy, he set the switch to “cold mic.”

“At that moment, I blew chow,” Dubie said, telling the story in his Montpelier office. “I filled my cheek.” But he didn’t acknowledge to the instructor that he was sick.
“I swallowed hard and said, ‘I’m feeling great.’ … I didn’t bust that ride. I didn’t bust any ride,” he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment