Debrief

Jerry Gregoire is the founder and chairman of Redbird Flight Simulations, Inc., manufacturer of groundbreaking full-motion simulators for general aviation. His background includes a stint as chief information officer for Dell Computer Company.

Started in aviation…In 1973, the Marine Corps had the Flight Indoctrination Program. The program paid 100 percent of the cost toward a private pilot license at a local flight school in preparation for military flight training. It was my favorite thing about the Marines. I can’t remember my second favorite thing.

Thoughts on training…I train constantly. I’m at FlightSafety International every six months for recurrent training, even though I’m only required to go once a year. It’s amazing how many bad habits I can accumulate in six months, so I need that constant discipline and practice. In spite of all of my years of flying, there’s an ocean of things I have yet to learn. That’s aviation’s appeal.

On soloing…The most wonderful moment is when you can shove that chatterbox out of the right seat to bask in the pure joy of flying…in peace.

Favorite aircraft…My Cessna Citation CJ1+. Speed is, for lack of a better term, cool. Distances compress so much it reminds you how small the Earth really is, bad weather slides beneath, there’s lots of whiz-bang technology in the cockpit, and it makes a lot of noise on the ramp.

Pressure in the cockpit…I built an ultralight. It was a two-seater with an engine you started with a rope, like a lawn mower. The aircraft was so tail-heavy that once the wheels had broken ground, the nose pitched up 40 degrees and I was climbing over the hangars before I knew it. Pulling back on the power made the problem worse, so I was committed to flying around the pattern in a severe nose-up attitude where bringing it down meant falling backwards. My only hope was to shift the weight as far forward as possible. I unhooked my seatbelt and hung as far over the nose of the ultralight as I could until I could get it to come down going forward.

Advice for students…Anybody can learn to steer an airplane. Your job is to practice until you can wear that airplane. Obey the absolutes and constantly ask yourself, “How would what I’m about to do next look on an NTSB accident report?”