On February 24th a group from the LA5 had the opportunity to peak behind the curtain to see the front office of a corporate jet.
Upon first glance, you’re met with an array of lights, dials, buttons, computer screens and you wonder how does a pilot make sense of all this and get us safely from point A to point B.
FlightSafety International, the premier training facility was kind enough to give us a tour of their Long Beach facility that provides training for Gulfstream corporate jets.
Our flight instructor and tour guide was none other than Don Older father of our current president Charisse Older. After a tour of the facility, we had a chance to sit in the right seat (1st officer’s seat) of a Gulfstream 500 (G-V) simulator for a flight around the Southern California area with Don.
This was followed by a tour of the Gulfstream Completion Facility where we were able to see the process of how they move an aircraft from the production line (they are called “Green” Aircraft, a hollow tube with no interior) into an exotic and beautifully outfitted aircraft ready for service. Our tour culminated with a walk-through of a fully outfitted G-650.
For a few moments we had an opportunity to be in that rarified air and see the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
As I was driving home I kept thinking, how do I get one of these?
Many thanks to Don Older, FlightSafety Instructor, for the tour & sim flight, Todd Bitgood, Center Manager, FlightSafety International, Craig Kopec, Manager, Customer Operational Readiness (COR) and Rodney B. Patterson, Human Resource Business Partner, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation for their assistance in making this happen.
