In nearly 30 years as a pilot, I have never heard of these awards. A quick look at past recipients reveals a very small handful of worthy recipients of such a title as ‘living legend of aviation.’ The rest of them seem to be a bunch of Hollywood actors and billionaires indulging their hobby by throwing their considerable wealth at it.
Having had the privilege of working and flying with pilots who have utterly amazing stories to tell, I will stick my neck out and say having enough money to buy lots of aircraft and fly them around a lot is not really enough of an achievement to qualify as a ‘living legend.’ Neither is being a member of the Royal Family doing a job many others do in the Armed Forces. I don’t know of any single or sustained feat of outstanding skill, bravery or devotion to the role that Prince Harry has carried out that sets him apart from other aviators.
if you ever got me in the pub, I would tell you of the real legends out there, I could talk for days about them. The colleague who saved an entire airline full of people (and all of those below) when both engines cut out at 800ft over London and still he landed it safely. The colleague who studied in her own time to become a test pilot, who was an instructor on airliners at 23 and was awarded a GAPAN Grand Masters Medal for outstanding performance before the age of 30, who is still pushing boundaries in aviation now and still has at least 15 years of career ahead of her. The colleague whose mother in law holds multiple world records for outstanding feats of aviation endurance and exploration including circumnavigating the globe in a single engined aircraft. The colleagues who evacuated a burning aircraft and got everyone off with no injuries when an engine burst into flames on the take off roll. The instructor I had who flew aid flights to Africa, clearing zebras off the runway before he could land in the remote African bush with much needed medication. The instructor I had who won a famous air race in brilliant manner in the 1960s, leading to the entry to service of one of the most famous fighter aircraft of all time and who went on to be one of the most iconic flying instructors I know of. The colleague who was sent out on a passenger flight he did not return from, becoming instead a human shield in a dirty war. The club mate I had who taught himself to get into an aerobatic aircraft after he was paralysed and went on to win national aerobatic competitions and raised millions for disabled pilots. The colleague who wrestled a hijacker to the floor in the cockpit, saving everyone on board a B747 - and his copilots who actually did the flying even though they had the weight of a hijacker on their shoulders throughout the ordeal.
These are just a small number of the stories I could tell you. Former military helicopter pilots are numerous where I work, none of them have awards for simply doing their job. This is a back-slapping club for rich people, with a few probably slightly bewildered actual legends among them, their presence required to make the rest of them feel as though they are someone different to everyone else.