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I was at the tip of that spear. There were 19 divisions of Soviet Armor. We had three. The rest were supposed to fl y into Germany for WWIII. So the three U.S. Army Armor divisions would strategically locate themselves based on intelligence from our scouting unit — while everyone was running from the Soviet onslaught, we fl ew into it. The only weapons we had were our crew pistols. We had no GPS and fl ew using topographical maps. We were authorized to fl y under power lines and bridges. Our life expectancy in combat was two hours. It was basically a suicide mission. Looking back, I really enjoyed my job. I loved Germany and enjoyed the two years I was there.”
Duncan Aviation provides the
highest in quality component repairs and overhauls with the lowest
warranty rates in the industry. We have more than 1,500 avionics and instrument repair capabilities on the following model helicopters:
Agusta (A109A/C/E), Bell (205, 206, 222, 412, 430, 212, 214, 429), Airbus (AS 350B/C/D/E, AS355F/N, SA 365C/N), McDonnell Douglas (369D), Sikorsky (S-76A/B/C, S-92A)
TRANSITION TO CIVILIAN LIFE In 1989, Bertele moved to Long Island, NY, after getting out of the Army. He worked at Island Helicopters for several years. Although he didn’t have his A&P yet, he was able to work there as a mechanic under the supervision of an A&P. While working at Island Helicopters, Bertele studied to get his A&P and eventually got it. He says the A&P written exam was the only test he ever failed. “It was diffi cult taking the test based on experiences I had,” Bertele says. “The Bell 206 exposed me to about 15 percent of the 1,500 questions in the written. Plus, I didn’t study very well. The fi rst time I saw a magneto was during my practical exam. Same thing with a carburetor and tire and a bunch of other stuff .” As soon as he had his A&P certifi cate, Bertele started
working on getting his pilot’s license. He is now an A&P/ IA and ATP pilot with nearly 5,000 fl ying hours, multiple type ratings and commercial helicopter rating. Bertele eventually left Island Helicopters and went to
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work for Nassau Flyers. He remembers when his DOM sent him over to inspect a Cessna 152 for the fi rst time. “I stuck my head in the aircraft and saw a bunch of bare aluminum,” Bertele recalls. “I had never seen bare aluminum because that’s not what we do in helicopters. I went in screaming, ‘Oh my God, it’s unairworthy!’ My DOM told me, ‘No, that’s pretty much what we do on small airplanes.’” As fate would have it, Bertele ended up meeting Arthur Dorfman who owned a Cessna 172. He worked out a deal with Dorfman to maintain the airplane in exchange for fl ying time. Bertele says that from day one, he was fi xing and fl ying aircraft and has been doing that ever since. One thousand hours later, Bertele wanted to do more
fl ying. He briefl y worked at a non-aviation job at Link Controls as an engineering manager until the offi ce was closed and his job was shipped to Mexico. Fortunately, he got enough severance pay to fi nish up his multi-engine, instrument and commercial ratings.
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