The other pilot...was a very experienced and senior pilot with thousands of hours and landings.
On the one hand, judging from his age, I'd bet that my pilot had
significantly less experience than that, but on the other hand, he was flying for an airline that probably sent close to 100% of its flights through JFK takeoff/landing/airspace, so you'd think its pilots would have been on the alert for, even if not fully trained to deal with, the inherent wingtip vortices danger.
And under any circumstances, having been bitten once, he should have been twice shy! It wasn't just my life, it was his own.
At least your guy was aware of the danger and reacted based on his knowledge.
(I believe that Pelham Seaplane Service was shut down for failure to properly maintain their planes; perhaps it should have been for failure to maintain their pilots.
)
