Business executive, author, and college lecturer Denny Strigl has a lifelong passion for flight. Although it took a backseat when he ran Verizon Communications and Verizon Wireless, the recently retired CEO is serious about the safety and utility of general aviation.
Who: Denny Strigl and Chase
Occupation: Former president and CEO of Verizon Communications and Verizon Wireless.
Hours: 1,200
Extra: Strigl oversaw the nation’s first consumer cellular network in Chicago in 1984.
Started in aviation...I began flying in 1965. I wanted to be an airline pilot. The airlines were hiring. They paid $350 a month. Before signing on a friend of mine said to walk up and down the streets to see what other industries were paying. I got a job at a telephone company and never regretted it.
Joy of flight...Every time I fly to our home in Lake Placid, I think about how lucky we are to do this. What you fly over—from the densely populated Northeast to the remote areas of upstate New York—is always such a contrast. I feel fortunate to be in the sky and in the quiet and solitude.
Business parallels...In flying and business you need to be methodical. From time to time you take some capital risks in business. The same is true in flying. You try to avoid those risks, but you know they're there. Plan for them.
Favorite airplane...It’d be hard to say anything other than my Mooney Ovation2. I’ve thought about twins, but why go to the cost of it? It wouldn’t get me anyplace any faster.
Focus on safety...I try to fly quite often with an instructor. I do a flight review annually. I do an instrument proficiency check whether I need it or not. I go to Mooney safety programs once a year.
Advice for students...It’s not necessarily how much you fly but the intensity with which you focus while you're flying. Make yourself a little bit better every time you do it.
Strigl is the author of Managers: Can You Hear Me Now?
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