Pilot

A Maryland medevac pilot and would-be whistle-blower who was fired last week plans to appeal his dismissal from the Maryland State Police, union officials said yesterday. According to police, Peter Peterson was fired for refusing to cooperate with an internal safety probe stemming from his September warning to federal authorities that the police-operated medevac fleet was not safely operated. Peterson's e-mail to the U.S. Transportation Department's inspector-general came days before a helicopter crash killed four people in Prince George's County and led to a reform of the state emergency medical system's operations.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Nineteen women have flown aboard U.S. spacecraft, starting with the celebrated Sally Ride in 1983.But when Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins buckles herself into her seat aboard the space shuttle Discovery this week, she alone will realize the crowning achievement of female aviators.Colonel Collins is a female spacecraft pilot, the world's first.The women before her were astronauts, but they were passengers aboard their shuttles, there to conduct scientific experiments or operate payload equipment.

The television term "pilot" is an apt aeronautical reference because the vast majority of them never fly. And tomorrow night offers a couple of unusual chances to view the process:* At 11:30 on WJZ-Channel 13 comes the premiere airing of "The Raven," the creation of a husband/wife Baltimore production team which is intended as a glitzy, predominantly black, late-night soap opera on the order of "Dallas" or "Dynasty.""We're banking that the public is ready to see this kind of story line," says Darryl Pugh, co-producer with Renee Pugh in the firm of Mirror Image Productions.

A small, privately owned airplane crashed in a soybean field yesterday morning, critically injuring the pilot as he attempted a landing at Lee Airport near Edgewater and scattering parts in a residential neighborhood as the aircraft hit several trees. The pilot and lone occupant, Ralph Dilks, 64, of Cape May, N.J., was pulled unconscious from the wreckage by several area residents who heard the crash shortly before 10 a.m. Witnesses said Dilks had serious head injuries from the impact, which left the cockpit obliterated.

Ellis M. Woodward, a World War II bomber pilot who recounted in a 1998 book how his squadron of 12 planes was attacked by a secret German Luftwaffe unit called the Storm Group while returning from a daylight bombing mission over Germany, died from complications of a stroke Monday at his Rodgers Forge home. He was 84. After the war, he became a stockbroker in Baltimore and founded a company in Timonium to market golf gloves he designed. Mr. Woodward was born and raised in New Orleans. His college studies at Tulane University were interrupted when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941.

Paul "Skip" Beach Jr., a Chesapeake Bay pilot for more than 40 years, died Tuesday of lung cancer at his Lutherville home. He was 74. Mr. Beach was raised on Cloverhill Road in Baltimore and studied at Cranwell Preparatory School in Massachusetts. He graduated in 1950 from Boys' Latin School of Maryland, where he played football, basketball and lacrosse. He followed his father into the Association of Maryland Pilots, where he apprenticed for six years before becoming licensed to guide large ships through the Chesapeake Bay between Baltimore and Cape Henry, Va. Although the job required Mr. Beach to be away from home for several days at a time and to work at all hours and on holidays, his family said he enjoyed being a pilot.

Morris J. "Bud" Hendrickson Jr., a pilot and retired project manager for a Baltimore architectural firm, died Friday of heart failure at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The longtime Timonium resident was 86 and lived in Mays Chapel Village. Born in York, Pa., Mr. Hendrickson attended Hofstra University before joining the Army and serving in Africa in the Army Air Forces in World War II. He then worked briefly for Glenn L. Martin Co. and earned an architecture degree. Mr. Hendrickson joined the old Edmunds & Hyde Inc. architectural firm.

A memorial service for James "Jay" Vincent Osterman -- the pilot killed in Wednesday's helicopter crash at Baltimore-Washington International Airport --will be held at 11 a.m. today at George P. Kalas Funeral Home in Edgewater. Burial will follow the funeral service at Lakemont Memorial Gardens in Davidsonville. Mr. Osterman, 37, of Davidsonville, was an Anne Arundel County firefighter for almost 20 years, starting as volunteer when he was a teen-ager. He was hired by the department in 1984 and was most recently stationed at Woodland Beach, where he grew up. Born in Annapolis and raised in Edgewater, Mr. Osterman graduated from South River High School in 1982.

Robert W. Baker, a decorated World War II bomber pilot and retired Baltimore dairy executive, died of respiratory failure Thursday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Lutherville resident was 82. Mr. Baker was born in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park. After graduating from Forest Park High School in 1942, he began his college studies at Western Maryland College. In 1943, he left to enlist in the Army Air Forces. He was trained as a pilot on B-17 Flying Fortress bombers and was sent to England, where he joined the 8th Air Force.

Norman Hochberg, a retired Baltimore lawyer and decorated World War II pilot, died from complications of pneumonia Thursday at Sinai Hospital. The Stevenson resident was 82. Mr. Hochberg was born in Baltimore and raised on Woodbrook Avenue. He was a 1941 graduate of City College and attended McCoy College at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, College Park before leaving to enlist in the Army Air Forces in 1943. After training as a B-17 pilot, Mr. Hochberg joined the 94th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force, based at Bury St. Edmunds, England.