Charles “Cowboy” Crinnian thought he was just one of the presenters in a Tuesday forum, and the surprised look on his face made it clear he didn’t have a clue about what was happening.

Ken Knopp, FAA deputy regional administrator, New England, stepped on stage to supposedly answer an audience member’s question. But instead he gave Charles the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, named in honor of Orville and Wilbur Wright. “It is the most prestigious award given to pilots, who must have 50 years of safe flying his- tory,” Knopp said.

Charles said he had been told his nomination for the award was hung up in paperwork, so he was especially surprised to get it now, and at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

“This is everything aviation, and aviation has been my life,” Charles said. “It couldn’t have been given to me at a better venue.”

Charles said he became interested in flight as a child. “I was in Boy Scouts and my troop did a joint ground school with the Civil Air Patrol,” he recalled. After that, he dropped Scouts and started mowing lawns at $4 a yard to earn the $8 it would take for him to pay for a half-hour of flight instruction.

“And things just took off from there,” he said.

Charles has multiple ratings in commercial, instrument, multiengine, flight instruction, and more, and he has flown 18 different airplanes as pilot in command. He is also a senior aviation medical examiner and active in volunteer pilot organizations.

Knopp said about 8,000 people have received the award in the last 30 years; coincidentally, three other award winners were in the forum audience.

Charles has advice for new pilots. “Don’t get overconfident,” he said. “Put together a go/no-go decision matrix and follow that, remembering you can always get there tomorrow. Nothing is so important to put your airplane or your life on the line.”

He also encourages youths to take a Young Eagles flight and get jobs so they can afford flight lessons and earn the privilege of becoming an aviator. “It is the best career or avocation in the world.”