Renaissance man

Whyte and his passengers ended up landing at the nearest airport, which was York, Pennsylvania. Three days later the crew and passengers left for Milwaukee. “We didn’t hear another airplane on the frequency until we contacted Milwaukee Approach,” he said. Airplanes were moving again, and the mood on frequency was upbeat. On arriving in Milwaukee, they noticed an American flag had been installed on top of the control tower.

But his career hopes were dashed. “The airlines stopped hiring,” he said. “Since then, my career has sort of been a meandering path.” He has made better than the best of it.

Today Whyte is a One Aviation demonstration pilot in the Eclipse 550 and recently toured with the aircraft in Europe, racking up Atlantic crossings both ways. Three Eclipse aircraft made the trip, one going to a customer and another going to a German airshow. The third, his aircraft, stayed behind to give rides to potential customers in several countries. He got to his present position by a circuitous route that had him flying a Falcon 50 and Cessna Citation Sovereign to the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Whyte has worked as a volunteer at EAA AirVenture for 35 years, and was the co-founder and is still the manager of the AirVenture Cup Race, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2017. Yes, he started as an Oshkosh volunteer at age 7 and has never missed a year. (If you are reading this and you are 7, you must volunteer with a parent or grandparent and will be limited to tasks best suited for a youngster.) His first job after college was as a flight instructor in the Cliff Robertson Intern Experience program, giving flight lessons in a Piper J–3 Cub to young volunteers. Whyte was the first pilot in the program, he said, to take a Young Eagle ride as a kid and then give one as an adult. He has taken nearly 577 youngsters for airplane rides.

Later jobs had him flying young neonatal patients in King Airs and jets, one of the most rewarding missions he says he has flown.

In his off time, he is a co-pilot on the Consolidated B–24 and North American B–25 bombers flown by the Collings Foundation. He has also flown the Wright B replica and the Spirit of St. Louis replica, not to mention the Rutan Boomerang asymmetric twin. He has helped to pilot an Experimental Aircraft Association Ford Trimotor airliner through a summer tour.

Somehow Whyte found time to amass 3,000 hours of dual as a flight instructor. What does he do in his spare, spare time? He goes flying. He owns three airplanes—a Piper Cherokee 140 like the one in which he learned to fly, a Rans S–12 he owns with his father, and a Van’s RV–6. He has flown 123 aircraft makes and models. As for the future, he is interested in getting an airframe and powerplant certificate.

“When anyone asks, ‘Would you like to fly a…,’ the answer is ‘yes,’” he said.

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