“Flying has been one of the great things in my life. It’s taken me to the far corners of the world. I met thousands of people I otherwise wouldn’t have met. And I even got to play a little golf along the way.” Arnold Palmer
The world learned this week that golf legend Arnold Palmer passed away at age 87 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Known to his fans as Arnie, he cited three true loves in his life: his wife Winnie, the game of golf, and flying the skies. He said that had he not been a professional golfer, he would have wanted to earn a living as a pilot. His love of aviation took shape when he was a youngster, hanging out at the old airport terminal building near his home and listening to pilots spin yarns about their glory days and various aviation adventures.
Arnie became a pro golfer in 1955 and spent the next couple of years zigzagging across the continental U.S. in a small trailer – from tournament to tournament – with his wife and young daughters in tow. In 1958, he decided to take up flying in earnest and took flying lessons in a single-engine Cessna 172. He went on to acquire his instrument and multi-engine ratings, at which point the sky literally was the limit.
He began to purchase aircraft, graduating slowly to larger and larger planes and finally bought his first business jet, a Rockwell Jet Commander in 1966. He also played an active role in his hometown airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania by becoming a board member of the Airport Authority and actively promoting the much-needed expansion and modernization that was vital for growth in the area. As a tribute to his dedication to improving the facility, the Westmoreland County Airport at Latrobe was renamed the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (KLBE/LBE) in 1999.
He owned quite a few impressive jets – including a Learjet and multiple Cessna Citations models. He’s flown alongside the Blue Angels and landed a military jet on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CNV 69). He’s flown a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird F-16, a Boeing 747, and a McDonald Douglas DC-10. In May of 1976, he set a world speed record for circumnavigating the globe in 57 hours, 25 minutes and 42 seconds in a Learjet 36 with stopovers in Boston, Paris, Tehran, Sri Lanka, Jakarta, Manila, Wake Island, and Honolulu. After amassing nearly 20,000 hours of flight time throughout his flying career, he made his final flight at age 81 in his Cessna Citation X from Palm Springs, California to Orlando, Florida. He was a staunch advocate of business aviation and lent his support routinely to the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and was an active spokesperson for the No Plane, No Gain campaign.
Arnie will be sorely missed in both spheres – the world of professional golf and the realm of aviation lovers. He had the vision and the passion that helped him excel at both equally. He will be remembered fondly.
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Marketing Team UAS International Trip Support | - 03/19/2020
Mitch Launius
Instructor Pilot for 30 West IP
Mitch is the CEO of 30 West IP where he is also an instructor providing pilot training on international procedures. With an illustrious career of over 34 years in the cockpit, Mitch has acquired over 13,000 hours of flight time flying worldwide, with over 9,000 hours of this in Challenger and Gulfstream aircraft. He is an experienced safety officer and was also an IS-BAO project manager for a fortune 500 flight department. He has presented on Safety and Operations topics at the NBAA International Operators Conference and the Canadian Business Aviation Association Convention and is currently on the NBAA International Operators Committee and serves as the North Atlantic Regional Lead. Mitch is also a member of an FAA working group on General Aviation International Authorizations and Tabletop Exercises (GIATE). He was recently selected to represent IBAC as a member of the ICAO Personal Training and Licensing Panel (PTLP) and was also recently named as a 2020 recipient of the NBAA Tony Kern Professionalism in Aviation Award for his contribution to the business aviation community.
Henry ‘Duke’ LeDuc
Director Of Operations, Americas, UAS International Trip Support
Duke has been a dearly respected member of UAS Americas team and the UAS global family for more than five years. A safety-oriented, FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher, he oversees all of the operations of the elite UAS Operations Team. With twenty-five years of experience in aviation overall with more than fifteen years of experience in international flight planning and VVIP trip coordination, he is responsible for the development of the dispatch training program and involved in the strategic development of UAS Americas. With a myriad of rich aviation experience behind him, he has extensive experience in worldwide operations with both corporate and charter environments, including seven years as Operations/Dispatch Manager in an industry-leading, Fortune 500, IS-BAO Stage III Certified corporate flight department. Duke is frequently asked shares his knowledge at major industry events and is currently serving on the NBAA’s International Operators Conference (IOC) Planning Committee.
Dudley King
President and Founder, FlightBridge
Dudley is the Founder and President of FlightBridge, which he established in 2011 and has been focused on technology solutions for the private aviation industry since 2006. Since he graduated from Dartmouth in 1988, he has worked with an array of companies listed anywhere from VentureWire to the Fortune 100. A rare blend of executive, entrepreneur, and consultant, Dudley’s executive roles have included acting CIO positions for several companies and tech advisory services to CEOs trying to rebuild their technology organizations or looking for an external, professional point of view. Highly skilled at deeply understanding his customer’s business challenges and drawing from a long and varied experience in information technology services, Dudley excels at designing technology solutions to solve their problems.
Dr. Paulo Alves
Global Medical Director, Aviation Health, Medaire
Paulo has extensive experience in medical advisory in the aviation industry. As a cardiologist, he provides technical guidance and analysis for MedAire’s MedLink medical advisory service and is MedAire’s liaison with civil aviation regulators and industry associations. Paulo worked with Varig Brazilian Airlines for 23 years, 10 of which were spent as General Medical Manager. A member of the MedAire Medical Advisory Board, Paulo is also President of the Ibero-American Aerospace Medical Association, a member of the International Academy of Aerospace Medicine, a member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Safety Committee, a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), and a Fellow of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. Throughout his illustrious career, Paulo has held industry leadership roles including Chairperson of the AsMA’s Air Transport Medicine Committee, President of the Airlines Medical Directors Association, President of the Brazilian Society of Aerospace Medicine and was a member of the IATA Medical Advisory Group from 2002 to 2006.
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