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April 2002 |
Manatts
Mirror |
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Inside
this issue: Manatt's Mirror Jamie Kriegel
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What do these three things (flying, auto racing, golfing) have in
common? They are among the three favorite things (not necessarily in
that order) that Gene Manatt likes (loves?) to do. Gene is the featured
employee for a new column, which we would like to become a regular
feature of the Manatt’s Mirror (with your help).
Gene came to work for Manatt’s in 1972, but not as Company pilot.
No, at that time, he was a truck driver. About a year later, when the
company purchased its first plane, Gene was able to realize his ambition
of becoming the company pilot. Gene has served MANY capacities while working here at Manatt’s, but
needless to say, his favorite times have been as the pilot of the plane.
Over the course of years, Manatt’s has had five different planes. As
with any job “promotion”, you have to continue the learning process
to “keep up with the times” and Gene has done that very well. Another “speed based” pastime Gene enjoys is watching auto
racing. Besides attending some of the big name races, he has also been a
“host” for the skybox at the Knoxville Race Track. For all of you
who know Gene, you know he does a good job of that, also. Now, to show that Gene’s likes are not always in the fast lane, we
go to the sport of golf. Gene loves to golf, and as he gets more to the
retirement stage, he is vowing to spend a lot more time on the golf
course. He has also, been the force behind the annual Manatt Golf
Tournaments that have taken place the last few years. He puts a lot of
time and effort into making that a great fall outing. Gene has two daughters and four grandchildren who live away from
here. After a close call this winter that demolished the plane, but
allowed everyone on board to walk away without a scratch, Gene says it
makes you think about what your priorities are. Maybe we should spend a
little more time with our loved ones, make a little more effort to see
our children or grandchildren. News from the Flight
Department Just a word about our situation. Before our incident of Jan. 30th the company had hired another pilot. Andy Kvidera was hired to assist me in the flying duties. Andy was scheduled to go to Flight Safety on the Cheyenne IIIA on the 2nd of Feb. Needless to say his trip was canceled. We do not know at this time what the insurance company is going to do. They may total the plane or they may choose to repair it which ever is the least expensive for them. We are actively looking for a newer plane with the assumption the insurance company will not choose to repair. We have a couple of demo trips lined up to the con-expo in Las Vegas to evaluate the sales peoples claims of higher and faster than the next plane. One of these days the insurance company will tell us their decision and maybe the company will then decide what to do. Overall we were a lucky bunch of 7 people aboard 66MT when we landed short of the runway at the Ames, IA airport. |
