Gene Reynolds: Former Special Ops Pilot

Pilot to Pilot - Aviation Podcast

Avination, welcome back to episode 59 of the Pilot to Pilot podcast featuring Gene Reynolds. Gene has pretty much seen it all as a helicopter pilot. He has flown in the army (special ops) and as a civilian pilot in many facets.

• Some of the main topics Gene and I talk about are...
• How the movie Top Gun led him to want to become a military pilot
• How a medical issue messed up his flight slot for the military.
• How and why he joined the warrant officer flight program.
• Talk about the differences between military training vs civilian.
• How Helicopters don’t naturally want to fly.
• We talk about what happens when you fall behind in military helicopter training.
• Why we need high-quality CFI’s to stay as a CFI.
• Gene talks about his deployments
• Gene shares some war stories.
• Gene talks about how he had TEN tours in the military.
• Gene talks about flying Special Ops.
• We talk about how someone can make a career in commercial helicopter flying.
• Gene talks about the path to getting your dream helicopter job.
• Talk about the importance of maintaining networking and not burning any bridges.
• Talks about mentoring military helicopter pilots on how to transfer into the civilian world.

Happy Flying,

Justin