“Captain Steeeve,” a Maine-trained Navy pilot and social-media sensation for his plain-spoken explanations about flying, has hung up his wings.
After four decades, first in the right seat and then in the left seat, the popular commercial pilot whose full name is Steve Scheibner has been forced into retirement by federal regulations with 65 as the pilot age limit.
Scheibner began flying as a young aviator at Brunswick Naval Air Station.
He flew his way up the ranks at the Maine air station, eventually piloting the base’s P-3 Orions, popularly known as submarine hunters.
Following his naval career, Captain Steeeve joined the commercial airlines.
He has spent 40 years piloting many different planes, including Boeing 777s, 757s, 767s, and 727s, on both domestic and international routes.
In addition to using his social-media accounts to answer average passengers’ questions about flying, Scheibner also has a second mission – promoting a charity for sick children.
Three of the veteran pilot’s grandchildren have Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare and terminal genetic disorder.
He wears an ever-present red lanyard around his neck signifying his fight against the syndrome.
So he will continue to share insights into the disease and raise money to find a cure, in addition, of course, to continuing to address questions from airline passengers who have butterflies in their stomachs.
“Is Captain Steve going away? No,” he says. “There’ll be a lot more Captain Steve on my channel.”
For his last flight in the left seat, Captain Steeeve invited his wife onto the flight deck for a peek – the first time in 40 years that she had done so with him.
