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Presentation of Federal Aviation Administration's
Distinguished Career Service Award
from FAA Division Chief to Fred Carl Gardner
& Nomination Letter with a Brief Biography
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BIOGRAPHY OF FRED CARL GARDNER -
FAA DISTINGUISHED CAREER SERVICE AWARD
NOMINATION LETTER (FALL OF 1992)
by Wallace Emory, Branch Chief
(please see Disclaimer Statement below)
A. Name of Nominee: Fred C. Gardner
B. Title, Series, and Grade of Current Position: Aviation Safety Inspector, GM-1825-14
C. Brief Statement of Current Duties:
Fred C. Gardner plans, coordinates, and develops orders, notices, and advisory circulars which establish the conduct and management of the FAA airmen certification testing programs. Mr. Gardner also serves in a wide variety of special assignments, including revision and development of federal aviation regulations, educational evaluation studies, and the development and writing of flight training handbooks. He performs much of the research and study required to develop national policy for airmen training and evaluation.
D. Brief Biographical Sketch:
Fred C. Gardner began his FAA career in July 1967 as an FAA Airman Examination Specialist. Mr. Gardner advanced to the position of FAA Aviation Safety Inspector and has remained in essentially the same section in which he was originally hired.
Prior to joining the FAA, Mr. Gardner was employed from August 1951 until July 1967 as a flight instructor and flight supervisor in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army civilian contract flying schools. As a flight instructor, during this 16 year period, he trained more than 100 military pilots in the primary phase. In the Air Force program, he taught students in the T-6, T-28, and T-34. In the Army programs, he flew the OH-23D helicopter and the L-19 airplane. As a flight commander, Mr. Gardner supervised approximately 13 flight instructors and 50 student pilots in each class. In 1953, one of his students was Jack Swigert. Mr. Swigert was command module pilot on Apollo 13.
Mr. Gardner received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Kansas University, and from 1948 to 1950 he taught high school science, and was a high school athletic coach.
Mr. Gardner served in the U.S. Army Corps from December 1941 until November 1945. He began his service in the Air Corps as an airplane mechanic, then was accepted for pilot training.
He graduated from training in April 1943. Mr. Gardner was then assigned to a basic flying school in California where he served as an aircraft maintenance engineering officer. In 1944 he was transferred to the B-29 program where he was trained as a flight engineer instructor. He served in that capacity until the war ended. While in the B-29 program, Mr. Gardner witnessed the "Trinity" atomic bomb test in 1945, which opened the atomic age.
E. Listing of Previous Honors and Awards:
Superior Accomplishment Award 1992
PMRS Award 1991
PMRS Award 1989
PMRS Award 1988
PMRS Award 1987
Special Achievement Award 1987
Special Achievement Award 1985
Quality Within-Grade Increase 1983
Quality Within-Grade Increase 1982
Quality Within-Grade Increase 1980
Quality Within-Grade Increase 1975
Quality within-Grade Increase 1973
Quality Within-Grade Increase 1970
F. Career Service Achievements:
Mr. Gardner has had a very distinguished career in the FAA. He has demonstrated outstanding performance in his 25 years of service. Among his many achievements some highlights are:
He developed and maintained the Aviation Instructor Handbook. This handbook is today an industry standard and is copied by our military services for their training of aviation instructors.
He revised and maintained the Instrument Flying Handbook which is today the industry standard for training both pilots and flight instructors for instrument pilot ratings.
He developed the order governing the conduct of airmen written tests and the newest order governing the conduct of airmen knowledge tests via the computer medium. These orders are world-wide in scope and provide guidance for the administration of over 200,000 airmen tests each year.
Mr. Gardner is responsible for the development of the highly successful flight instructor practical test standards. These standards were developed from experience, research and study. The four books have established objective FAA certification standards for flight instructors throughout the world.
He was bestowed the honor of Aviation System Standards, AVN Employee of the Year in 1990.
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Let it be known to all persons that the foregoing list of extraordinary career accomplishments of Fred C. Gardner was entered into this homepage at the sole initiative of John F. Gardner, and not in any way, shape or form at the initiative of Fred C. Gardner. However, the said list of career accomplishments of said Fred C. Gardner is a true and accurate statement of record and can be validated through the Federal Aviation Administration offices. Fred C. Gardner hereby categorically denies without reservation that he has any inherited or acquired trait which could be interpreted as braggadocio.
FRED'S DISTINGUISHED CAREER SERVICE AWARD FROM
THE FAA ADMINISTRATOR
