From Vietnam to the FAA, Tokarz has dedicated his life to aviation and aviation safety<\/p>\n
HOLDEN \u2014 Peter Tokarz has been flying for years, and his recent retirement at 75 was preceded by recognition of his long career in aviation.<\/p>\n
The Holden native received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, given for \u201cFifty Years of Dedicated Service in Aviation Safety,\u201d in October. Awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration, it was followed Massachusetts certificate as well.<\/p>\n
Tokarz said he had led \u201ca very blessed life,\u201d one that allowed him to keep his feet not on the ground, but in the air, even as he focused on safety in aviation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is so highly committed to Holden,\u201d where he was born and raised, said his sister, Theresa Timura. She noted his career was \u201ca beautiful story. He has done so much for our community and is the most modest person I ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m his biggest cheerleader,\u201d she admitted, adding the award was \u201cquite an accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
His love of flying started early, Tokarz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up in Holden, I had many people who helped to influence my future life. My love of flying was first inspired by Father O\u2019Leary, our priest at Saint Mary\u2019s Church. He had a pilot\u2019s license and invited me to go flying with him in a J-3 Piper Cub out of Worcester Airport. From that day on, I knew I wanted to be a pilot,\u201d Tokarz said.<\/p>\n
As a student at Wachusett Regional High School, \u201cI developed a great deal of admiration for Scott Ljungberg, a history teacher. He had served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. He was seriously wounded during that war, and ended up being wheelchair-bound. He had a great personality and a positive attitude. My conversations with him inspired me to join the Marine Corps right out of high school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tokarz enlisted in the Marines in August of 1967, graduated from training, and served in Vietnam from February 1968 to March 1969. Assigned to the 3rd Marine Division, 9th Marines, Mike Company, 2nd Platoon, he arrived at the start of the Tet Offensive and was involved in a total of 17 major combat operations, \u201cduring which time most of my fellow Marines were either killed or wounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt lucky to have survived, and credited the many pilots, both fixed-wing and helicopter, who flew into danger to assist and save the soldiers on the ground. I vowed then and there that I was going to become a pilot,\u201d Tokarz said.<\/p>\n
When he returned from the service, he began working for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during the day, taking courses toward his bachelor\u2019s degree at night and taking flight lessons on the weekends.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo gain additional flight training, I joined the Reserves and the National Guard, where I flew helicopters. I eventually became a civil engineer with the state, supervising various construction projects in the Boston area.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of his favorite projects was working as the assistant resident engineer during the construction of the Dr. Paul Dudley White Bike path along the Charles River.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took early retirement from the state in 1982 in order to focus on aviation. What had begun mainly as a hobby became my career,\u201d Tokarz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy experiences in aviation have been very diverse. I have been a flight instructor, an airport owner (partner at Sterling Airport), an airline pilot for Pilgrim Airlines, owner of Worcester Airport\u2019s Fixed Base Operations, director and chief pilot for Parker Manufacturing Flight Department, owner of Corporate Flight Department (Worcester Airport), director of operations for a 135 Corporate Operation in Florida, and most recently an aviation safety inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/p>\n
During that time, he earned many Aviation Flight ratings and type ratings in both fixed-wing and helicopter aircraft.<\/p>\n
Tokarz worked as an FAA aviation safety inspector for 27 years, retiring in October 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking out of offices in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Arizona and (Washington) D.C., my responsibilities have been both foreign and domestic.\u201d<\/p>\n
His work took him to places around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have had the opportunity to work in the U.S., Europe, Central and South America, the British Isles, South Asia and the Middle East. Committee work took me to Tanzania. I have spent extensive time in Dubai, managing the CAE Flight training Center and in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where I was responsible for pilot training and credential review. It eventually became too dangerous to perform those duties onsite,\u201d Tokarz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout my career, whether in the private sector or as an FAA Inspector, I have always emphasized the importance of following the FAA and ICAO (International) Standards and Regulations. I have tried not to just enforce the rules but to assist individuals, companies, and countries to improve their aviation practices.\u201d<\/p>\n
His time in the service came back to him years later with a chance encounter.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the most meaningful moments of my life happened unexpectedly when I was working in the Bedford, Massachusetts, FAA Office in 2001. A colleague mentioned that a fellow inspector, Ken Cook, had been a Marine Corps fighter pilot in Vietnam. I approached Ken and told him how grateful I was for the bravery of Army and Marine Corps pilots who served in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
\u201cI specifically mentioned April of 1968, during Operation Kentucky, when we were being ambushed and had to call in fighter aircraft to drop napalm. I remembered one aircraft had made numerous runs, was then hit, and the pilot had to parachute out of the aircraft, landing in the sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe following Monday, Ken came over to show me his logbook, which proved that he had been that pilot. I gave him a hug and told him, \u2018Thanks for saving my life!\u2019 We have remained friends ever since,\u201d Tokarz said.<\/p>\n
About his recent honor, the Wright Brothers award, he is deservedly proud.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn October 2022, just prior to my retirement, I had the honor of being awarded the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. This award \u2018is to recognize individuals who have exhibited exemplary aviation expertise, distinguished professionalism, and steadfast commitment for at least 50 years of piloting experience or 50 or more years combined experience in both piloting and aircraft operations.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI received the award during a virtual ceremony attended by friends, family and FAA personnel. I was also honored to have Lt. Gov. Karen Polito participate in the ceremony. I was very pleased to have all of their support,\u201d Tokarz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso in October, I was awarded two Governor\u2019s Citations, one in recognition of the Wright Brothers Award and the other to recognize my service to the FAA and to the country, particularly my service in Vietnam,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we don\u2019t do the job expecting to get praise, these awards have been very much appreciated after years of service and sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From Vietnam to the FAA, Tokarz has dedicated his life to aviation and aviation safety HOLDEN \u2014 Peter Tokarz has been flying for years, and his recent retirement at 75 was preceded by recognition of his long career in aviation. The Holden native received the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, given for \u201cFifty Years of Dedicated Service in Aviation Safety,\u201d in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}