0 Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society announces 2010 Hall of Fame inductees

Edward R. Boyer of Virginia Beach, George W. Lutz of Springfield, and Albert M. Orgain IV of Manakin-Sabot will be inducted into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame at the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society’s Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame Induction Dinner at the Virginia Aviation Museum on Nov. 13.

Boyer has been rightly called the “father” of charitable air transportation. Ed devoted over 30 years of his life to the development of a comprehensive worldwide charitable air transportation system in both the medical and disaster arenas. He is the founder, CEO and president of Mercy Medical Airlift, located in Virginia Beach. MMA is a nationwide network of programs that include Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, Angel Flight of Virginia, the National Patient Travel Center, Mercy Medical Airlift, the Homeland Security Emergency Air Transportation System (HSEATS), Air Compassion America, and Air Compassion for Veterans. These programs help thousands of patients every year to access life-saving or life-improving specialized medical care that would otherwise not be available to them due to barriers of distance, time and finances. In Virginia alone during the 2008 calendar year, 322 Commonwealth pilots completed 273 Angel Flight missions, with a public benefit of $214,461. He also helped create Air Charity Network, formerly known as Angel Flight America, whose more than 7,500 pilots and their regional organizations are bound by common training requirements and protocols necessary for safety, cooperation and quality of service.

Boyer developed a homeland security component of his organization, known as HSEATS, which mobilized volunteer pilots and utilized corporate planes during Hurricane Katrina to aid in disaster relief by performing over 2,600 missions. An engineer, private pilot and former federal senior officer with the Department of Health and Human Services, his visionary insight has led him to foster partnerships with dozens of organizations in the fields of health care, government services, commercial and corporate aviation, disaster relief and charitable lodging. His commitment to help in the healing of military veterans and active duty service members and families led to the creation of Air Compassion for Veterans, which provided over 3,634 free flights for veterans and families affected by deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. He has been a pilot for 47 years with commercial, instrument, single and multi-engine and glider ratings, and served on two FAA advisory committees.

Lutz’s love of aviation inspired him to dedicate his time and efforts to improving safety, education, and the enjoyment of general aviation through his work with the FAA, Experimental Aircraft Association and the Quantico Marine Corps Flying Club. He served as an FAA safety counselor for 20 years, beginning in 1980. He was instrumental in the planning and presentation of safe pilot programs for the Dulles FSDO 27 for 22 years. He initiated the planning, research and development of Advisory Circular 90-89A, amateur build aircraft and ultralight flight testing handbook. This Advisory Circular is recognized throughout the world and has provided a recognized safety program for the flight testing of amateur build aircraft. He served as official Experimental Aircraft Association liaison with FAA headquarters on sport aviation issues, National Aviation Weather user forums, traffic at non-towered airports, GPS, and other FAA programs. He was instrumental in founding EAA Chapter 186 and served six terms as president. During his tenure, Chapter 186 organized, developed and managed the long-running and very successful Winchester EAA fly-in. He served as chief flight instructor and supervisor for standardization for the Quantico Marine Corps Flying Club, which maintained 17 airplanes, carried 26 instructors on staff and had a membership of over 550 pilots. In the early 1960s he helped found a flying club at Rose Valley Airport in Prince Georges County, MD, which then moved to Quantico Marine Base.

Lutz joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 after graduating from the University of Iowa. In 1946, he left the service and moved to Seattle where he went to work for Boeing as a staff engineer. He re-entered the service when the Air Force was created and went to Air Force flight school in San Antonio. While in the Air Force, he served as a B-47 test pilot, held a number of staff assignments at the Pentagon and Andrews AFB, and was base commander at Nakon Phanom airbase in Thailand. He retired from the Air Force with the rank of Colonel in 1972. While in the service he was awarded the Legion of Merit medal and the Air Medal.

Orgain, chairman of the VAHS Board from 2002 to 2010, used his varied talents, unsurpassed leadership skills and passion for Virginia’s aviation history to raise the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society to a state of recognition unmatched in its history. He laid the groundwork for new programs and re-invigorated established programs. This has increased the society’s visibility and strengthened its ability to fulfill the mission statement of telling the story of Virginia’s rich aviation history. Through his leadership, the VAHS has enjoyed a significant increase in monetary donations greatly improving not only the society’s day-to-day operation but its ability to provide Virginia with a quality “product” in the form of programs and information. Programs strengthened and developed during his tenure have placed the society and its mission in view of the general public in a manner that has not been enjoyed in the past.


A resident of Virginia since the age of 5, Orgain learned to fly in 1964, and is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, class of 1965, and the Washington and Lee University School of Law. He served as a rotorcraft pilot in the U.S. Army (1965-1968) and flew in Vietnam in UH-1C Huey gunship helicopters. He was wounded twice by enemy fire and awarded two Purple Hearts and two awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross. He is past chairman for the Air and Space Transportation Committee of the Transportation Section of the Virginia State Bar Association and was a charter member of the Virginia Aviation Foundation. He is the lead attorney for the Sands Anderson Law Firm’s Aviation Team where, for more than 30 years, he has served clients in the aviation, transportation and insurance business, earning a national reputation for his skills in aviation accidents, especially “wire strike” matters involving collisions between aircraft and surface-bound towers and cables. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers of Virginia and other compilations for his aviation and transportation work.