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| Msg. Melvin Hemann received the Wilbur and Orville Wright Award |
Family and friends, his flight students, Federal Aviation Administration officials — they all conspired to pull a major surprise on the Rev. Mel Hemann.
The retired Stacyville native, 82, was honored Tuesday with the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for his 50-plus years of “professionalism, skill and aviation expertise.”
Hemann was presented the award on the first evening of the 48th annual meeting of the National Association of Priest Pilots (NAPP) being held this week in North Iowa.
He also will be recognized in the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award Roll of Honor in Washington, D.C.
“My first vocation is as a priest, but then my second love has been flying,” Hemann said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to do both of them. It’s not only been very beneficial for me personally, but like (Archbishop Jerome Hanus of the Diocese of Dubuque) said, we’ve been able to do a lot of good things with a lot of other people in the church.”
Hemann was joined Tuesday by his flying brothers: retired Monsignor John Hemann, 76, of Clear Lake; the Rev. Everett Hemann, pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Cedar Falls; and Matt Hemann, 72, a flying farmer.