Who is Brent Owens?
- Creator of iFLYblog.com
- Senior level management pilot at a large corporate jet operator
- Falcon 2000 Captain
- Vice President of EAA 9, Inc
- EAA Technical Counselor
- EAA Flight Advisor
- Aircraft builder
My Story (the short version):
I started flying April of 1986 at the tender age of 15. I have pursued aviation ever since – still do, having been lucky enough to make a living in this industry since my teens.
My education was all civilian and early on it was pretty typical of today’s training programs. It was when I started flying-for-hire that my learning took on new direction under, my then employer, Jim Brewer. He taught me about flying in ways I could have never learned from a book or in the mainstream aviation circles – I owe him a lot.
Under Jim and others employers, I have been exposed to flying over 40 types of aircraft from ultralights to corporate jets, amassing just under 10,000 hours of flight time. In that time as former instructor, I taught dozens of people to fly in all types of aircraft. I also worked as test and demonstration pilot for a kit aircraft manufacturer and taught myself aerobatics.
I completed and currently fly an RV-8 kit aircraft, but over my career I have restored two other aircraft and assisted in the maintenance on dozens more (composite, tube and fabric, wood, and metal). I am a Technical Counselor and Flight Advisor for the Experimental Aircraft Association and Vice President of our local chapter – EAA9.org
Currently I’m a management pilot and Falcon 2000 Captain for a large corporate operator in Ohio so I no longer fly full-time, but enjoy a blend of flying part-time at work and flying recreationally in my free time. This affords me the opportunity to view our general aviation community from different perspectives – something that I hope will benefit the reader.
As stated previously, my goal is to use this medium to promote, educate, and share this great gift of flight that we all enjoy!
Godspeed
some photos of airplanes that I have had the pleasure of flying:
Twin Beech D-18S
F.E.W. 2/3 P-51D Mustang replica
I taught lots of taildragger pilots in this Luscombe 8A
Of course my airplane – Contrary Mary! (RV-8)
.92 Mach Citation X
Falcon 2000
Hawker 1000
400XP
Bucker Jungster I
Citation Ultra
Cessna 421C (not this N number though)
C-152 very similar but different N numbers.
Just found your blog. Very nice.
Cool rides you have posted!!
(Might check the caption on the Citation X. I don’t think I’d pay that much for .092 Mach bird;)
Thanks for the kind words Mike! Yep I fixed the X caption, that would be pretty slow.
Hey, great website! I just found it, and I have dreams of building an RV one day as well. Yours is absolutely goregeous. Great work on it! -Randy
Thanks Randy! I’ll keep plugging away. Good luck on your dreams of building an RV!
Awesome planes, holy cow, they all look so fun. At least we have both flown the little 152 (and I flew a tail dragger one time during an intro to tail draggers lesson).
Thanks Kimberly! I love the C-152. I have more time in those than an other single. Great airplane!
Great site here Brent. Really looking forward to more great stories. As a retired Air Traffic Controller having spent time in ELP, LBB, DFW, and ABI, I wonder if we ever met on freq!!
Gary,
I bet we have. I trained out in Las Cruces and of course, Dallas was like a second home when I flew out of Duncan, Ok. Thanks for the compliments!
Brent
Awesome website! Just found it. Currently working on my commercial rating so I can get out in the game of flying! Hopefully I can get some advice from you one day!
Thanks Luke! I’d be happy to help anyway I can.
Take care,
Brent
Just stumbled upon your blog…very good stuff. I got my ticket in Nov. and of course now have the bug to build…looking at an RV-9. Currently flying out of Butler County and Dayton, so I may cross your path.
Daryl,
Thanks! Good to hear from someone close to home! Hope we run in to each other some day. Do you know Pete? He’s a good friend in Dayton that’s building an RV-8.
Brent
Awesome site Brent. Found you by listening to Stuck mic podcast.
Chapter 9 Young Eagles event 4 years ago took my son for a flight. At that time I had never been interested in flying. He flew, I got the bug.
That was 400 hours ago. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Kevin! Since I assume you are local, we’ll have to hook up sometime!
Brent