Biography
Pat was bitten by the flying bug early, and began taking lessons at age 16, earning his Private Pilot license shortly after his 17th birthday. Today, 7000+ hours later, he holds a Commercial Pilot certificate for Gliders, Single-Engine Land, and Multi-Engine Land aircraft and is a Gold Seal Flight Instructor for gliders, single and multi-engine aircraft, with over 5000 hours of instruction given. He is also an approved Check Pilot for the Piper PA46 (Matrix/Malibu) platform as well as a factory-trained Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot. In addition, he is the former Chief Tow Pilot for the Greater Houston Soaring Association with over 2400 town under his belt. Pat contributed a sidebar on radio communications to Rod Machado’s Sport Pilot Handbook, and participated in re-writing/updating the National Association Of Flight Instructors’ CFI Guide To Light Sport and Light Sport Aircraft. He is the co-developer of AOPA’s Rusty Pilot seminar, travels the country speaking to pilot groups as a Safety Seminar Presenter for the Air Safety Institute, and conducts Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics nationwide. In 2013, Pat was named by the FAA as both the Houston FSDO and Southwest Regional Flight Instructor Of The Year. He is also AOPA’s Texas You Can Fly Ambassador and can be seen flying around the state in “Woodstock”, one of AOPA’s “Reimagined” 152’s.