"Every plane I fly I expect is trying to kill me. That's the attitude I bring to that aircraft. It's not my friend and it has to prove to me that it's safe."
Pete has made a career out of pushing the envelope and taking risks so that other pilots don't need to. His company, High Performance Aircraft Training/Testing Inc. (HPAC) tests the limits of high performance aircraft to help pilots fly safer and smarter. Pete is the guy who will find out if the plane can be flown into icing, if you can spin it and survive. And then he'll teach you all that he's learned… from first hand experience pushing the aircraft beyond its limits.
Pete's first job landed him in the classroom not the cockpit. It wasn't long before he went from teaching at the local college to running his own flight school. From there he went on to testing race planes and flying internationally as a Gulfstream captain.
But Pete's true love is racing. Every year you will find him at the Reno Air Race competing in both the sport class and jet class. He competed for the first time in 2007 and took him the Gold Championship. In 2013 at Reno, he was officially crowned the fastest race pilot in the world, clocking his best lap at 522 mph.
Pete has been to every country except Madagascar. He's crossed the North Atlantic over 625 times and the Pacific more than 200 times. He has completed seven around the world flights and has flown over 240 types of aircraft…. including the first flights on eight prototype aircraft. And he's not done yet.
