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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
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Execs Get Flyboy High Outside of C Suite

Most of us, at least as children, “have looked at the birds and thought that they might be having more fun,” said flight instructor Michael Church, who’s helped a number of Orange County-based executives follow through with the fascination by getting a license to operate their own set of wings.

Aspiring to be among them is Telogis Inc. founder Newth Morris, who sold the logistics software maker in 2016 to Verizon Communications Inc. for about $900 million. He’s taking lessons at Sunrise Aviation Co. in Santa Ana, a flight school Church bought in 1985.

Learning to fly is “a bucket list item,” Morris said. “I don’t know how far I’ll take it, if I’ll buy a plane or anything like that, but for now I enjoy learning, and I love the views, being up and above, seeing Orange County and flying out of John Wayne … I always wanted to travel, so hopefully we’ll get to some places that are long by car and not serviced by [commercial airlines]—ranches, beaches and things like that.”

Relatively Safe

Morris was describing a lifestyle Steven Blythe embraced two decades ago at the urging of his wife, Kathi, who looked at flying as a safer option than his passion at the time: skydiving.

The chief executive of business management software maker Blytheco in Laguna Hills has 4,500 hours of flight time on the books, some of it amassed for work, other hours used entertaining clients or visiting the company’s offices in 26 states.

“I take my employees and customers up flying as a reward or attaboy for things that they do,” he said. “Pretty much for anyone I’ve taken up, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them—I do the takeoff and landing and let them fly the rest of the way, and I’m just nudging the rudders a little bit.”

Blythe’s also involved in half a dozen pilot groups that organize fly-ins, usually remote and interesting destinations that serve as gathering spots for 20 to 30 pilots and their families.

“It’s a social event,” he said. “We get to spend a long weekend or a week someplace, enjoying the local culture and sights, and great stories from prior trips.”

Blythe also participates in airshows at least once a month, when he flies in formation with other Beechcraft enthusiasts. One of his favorite events is the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow held each year in Wisconsin—more than 100 “bonanza” stunt pilots in his group arrive together, camp on the field, and perform stunts.

“When you’re three feet from the wing of three other aircraft and flying in formation, you’ve got to have a high level of trust in other pilots and their skill sets.”

Unlike ordinary flying, when most of the excitement happens during takeoff and landing, air show stunts require pilots to “be on the whole time,” he said. “It’s very intense—it’s like driving an inch off a bumper of another car on the freeway surrounded by three other cars. The slightest move can be a challenge, and it takes a while to build that skill set. It makes me a better pilot.”

Philanthropic Flights

Blythe also provides transportation for doctors, nurses and translators volunteering for Liga International and the Flying Samaritans, nonprofits that offer free medical care in Mexico.

Rod McDermott, chief executive of McDermott & Bull in Irvine, volunteers with Angel Flight West, a network of more than 1,400 pilots that “arranges free, nonemergency air travel for children and adults with serious medical conditions and other compelling needs.”

He’s logged more than 3,500 hours of flight time since he learned to fly 30 years ago. Most of his trips are work-related—his executive search firm fields candidates across the country, and some clients are in areas commercial airlines don’t serve. The ability to hop on his jet has allowed him to be more efficient as proliferation of ride-sharing services has solved transportation needs to and from local airports.

A recent McDermott commute started with a morning flight to Denver, followed by a lunch meeting in Fresno, and he was able to make it home for dinner.

It’s no coincidence that his major practice focus is aviation and aerospace, and two other people on his five-member team are pilots. Their skills help break down barriers.

“I might talk to a CEO of a company that does a lot of business with me, but the first five minutes are about interesting flights we may have taken recently,” McDermott said. “It’s a really good bonding experience.”

He recently obtained a rating to fly seaplanes. He owns a Cessna Citation CJ2 jet and uses it for family trips when not working.

Wallet-Time Balance

McDermott said the cost of owning a plane, which includes maintenance, parking fees and fuel, depends on aircraft size and can vary from $5,000 to $20,000 a month.

Church at Sunrise Aviation said lessons to obtain a private certificate range from $13,000 to $17,000—the price drops if the candidate commits to a semiweekly schedule for about a year.

The Yale University graduate, who majored in English literature, learned to fly as a young man living in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He developed real estate for years before seeing an opportunity to acquire the failing school and its three parking spots at John Wayne Airport.

Sunrise, considered a large flight school for OC, employs 30 and parks 19 planes at John Wayne. Most students are men and come from various socio-economic backgrounds and age groups.

“There is an irony to this that if you have enough money to fly, you may not have the time,” Church said. “And if you have the time to learn to fly, you may not have the money. Executives [who are] drawn to flying most commonly have developed both the financial resource and have gotten to the point where they can actually put aside the time.”

However, “flight skills cannot be purchased—they must be earned,” he said. “That means that whoever the individual is, they have to be willing to wear a student hat.”

Morris, who now serves on the investment committee of the new venture capital group in Irvine, Cove Fund, said he’s fine with that. The school stipulates 40 hours of flight time to earn the certificate, nearly double what’s required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“It’s a dangerous hobby,” he said. “It’s the kind you want to be good at.”

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