The culture of high expectations at SSC makes a military-trained pilot feel right at home.
Preston serves as one of our charter pilots at SSC. He began his piloting career in the Navy flying fighter jets.
There are two differences between the Navy and civilian piloting: training, and money!
Flying fighter jets is a very intense field where you are always studying the aircraft and how to be better. The budget for training and resources is pretty much unlimited. In the civilian world, you have to be more resourceful, but there is a lot less stress.
“I am very impressed with how SSC conducts business – they have a whole plan & mentorship program for training young pilots. Eric Groves, (CEO at SSC) is great about setting up and communicating a culture of standards and expectations that makes someone from a military background feel right at home.”
Preston’s flies the Cirrus SR22 and the Pilatus PC 12 for SSC’s charter passengers.
He enjoys flying both, but his favorite plane is the larger Pilatus PC 12.
“The Pilatus is a home run. It’s the perfect mix of everything you want in an airplane.”
Since Preston was a fighter pilot, we HAD to ask his opinion on the Top Gun movies.
Here’s what he said:
“The first Top Gun was enjoyable in a ‘guilty pleasure’ sort of way, but a complete joke in the fighter pilot world. The characters were flat, the egos were out of control, and the whole movie was just a bit campy.
The second movie (Top Gun Maverick) on the other hand, was fantastic. The main character was much more likeable and had some empathy and humility; the movie was very true to the training, stress, team culture, consequences, and the whole storyline of Air Force piloting.”
Back in the civilian world, many of the charter trips Preston flies are same day, “out and back” trips as the business world trends towards this time economy. He enjoys flying in the Southeast. Some of his favorite places to fly have beautiful scenery – he gets to see the Virginia Tech area frequently, the mountains of Georgia, and pretty much the whole Eastern seaboard.
When he is not flying, Preston enjoys carpentry, problem-solving, and computer programming. He has a young family and looks forward to “date nights” with his wife going to a movie and dinner. He is also very active in his church and community.
Preston puts his high professional standard into all his trips to ensure the safety of his passengers and the aircraft.
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