Editor's note: Earlier this week, political reporter Leo Wolfson -- in a story about Wyoming's state planes -- reported former Gov. Jim Geringer's recollection of a door blew off on a flight carrying him and late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas. We had to find out more.
For someone who already didn’t like heights to begin with, like late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, the incident was about as terrifying as it gets.
While flying somewhere over northwest Wyoming in the late 1990s, a latch on the door of the small, state-owned plane Thomas and then-Gov. Jim Geringer were flying on came open.
Thomas was already no fan of flying or heights, and Geringer told Cowboy State Daily that when the door latch popped open, Thomas “about lost it,” considering he was already “a little nervous and a little squeamish” about flying.
“Don’t blame him,” Geringer said with a chuckle.
Although their safety was never at risk, Geringer said the opening of the hatch sent wind whistling through the plane cabin until they landed.
Facing Fears Head On
Thomas, a Cody native, served in the U.S. House and Senate as a representative for Wyoming for 18 years. He did so while making weekly trips to and from Wyoming by airplane while Congress was in session.
Gale Geringer, Thomas’ former chief of staff and Wyoming state director, told Cowboy State Daily that he never hesitated about getting on a plane even though he didn’t enjoy it.
“He didn’t like heights but would man up and do what he needed to do,” Geringer said. “Craig Thomas was tougher than anything he was afraid of.”
Gale Geringer said it was nearly impossible to keep Thomas off a commercial plane heading back to Wyoming when the voting was complete at the end of the week out of his desire to return home.
Even more remarkable is the fact Thomas also was a pilot.
Gale Geringer, who started working for Thomas in 1981 when he was the executive director of the Wyoming Rural Electric Association, said Thomas would keep a meticulous checklist on his plane to make sure everything was safe.
Mitch Semel, the chief instructor for the Take Flight Aviation School in New York, said it’s unusual — but not unheard of within the aviation industry — for a pilot to have issues with heights.
“It is a thing,” he said. “It can be a really good way to confront your fears even though it sounds counterintuitive.”
Thomas’ desire to face his fears was emblematic of everything he did during a lifetime that included service in the U.S. Marines, said Liz Brimmer, who also served as Thomas’ chief of staff. He died in office in 2007 of complications from leukemia.
“He sought opportunities to challenge himself regularly,” Brimmer said.
He also routinely took people on tours of the U.S. Capitol dome, Geringer said, despite not enjoying the height of this structure either.
Jim Geringer also remembered an instance where he and Thomas were at an event in Casper and the fire chief offered to put them up in the fire truck ladder.
Thomas’ disklike for heights was unbeknownst to Jim Geringer at the time, who started jumping on the ladder when it reached its full extension, much to Thomas’ displeasure.
“It’s another example of where we weren’t trying to tease him, but it manifested itself that way,” Jim Geringer said.
On one occasion, Brimmer convinced Thomas and his wife to go paragliding with Thomas off of Rendezvous Peak in Teton County. Although Thomas may have issued more than a few swear words on the descent, Brimmer said he was ecstatic about the experience once he got his feet to the ground.
“These things show a real character asset of literally and actively facing heights,” Brimmer said. “He would face a challenge and face it actively.”
Significance
Semel also mentioned pinch hitter courses, which are designed to teach non-pilots like significant others and spouses of pilots how to rescue a plane in the event of a pilot emergency. While these courses don’t train someone to be a certified pilot, they do provide students with the ability to serve as an emergency replacement pilot.
Semel said this type of training can also be particularly valuable for people to overcome a fear of flying by simply getting more experience with it.
“Just by flying, you deal with the fear of flying,” he said. “It’s not uncommon.”
When it comes to doors blowing open during flights, Semel said that’s even more rare, but also not unheard of with old aircraft.
Earlier this year, a door plug blew off the left side of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet while the plane was climbing from Oregon to California. The plane landed safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board, though some passengers were injured.
Usually when a door comes open, Semel said, it can be nearly impossible to get it closed.
“Normally you would go lower and go land somewhere and get it fixed,” Semel said.
That was the case in the Wyoming state plane incident, Jim Geringer said, as they had to wait until they landed and got out of the plane to address the door.
But if a door broke off the plane entirely, Semel said it would result in a rapid decompression of the air pressure in the cabin unit and be extremely dangerous conditions for those inside.
Thomas’ Legacy
As far as Thomas’ legacy, Geringer said he’ll be most remembered for getting funding for Wyoming’s national parks.
Thomas was also a key player in some of the early negotiations on the Kelly Parcel, which is on the brink of being sold into Grand Teton National Park. For efforts like these, the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center is named in his honor in Grand Teton.
Brimmer said Thomas listened to his constituents intently and when he gave them his word, always kept it.
“He worked on doing good things for Wyoming,” she said. “He really wanted to know what people had to say and loved hearing their ideas.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
