skycowboy

These guys fascinate me... the amount of money they put into the system is phenomenal. These are pilots who collect ratings. I find it hard to believe they are married. I haven't dated a girl yet that would put up with the amount of financial loss required to support this hobby. But it is interesting none the less. Look these guys up.


- John Lear - every rating possible by the FAA
- Leiland Mozart Duke - MD-11 pilot probably 50+ types and most all other ratings
- Robert Blaine Briggs - 100 Types and almost all other ratings

Does anyone know of any other note-worthy ratings collectors besides these guys that have an absurd amount of FAA tickets? These people blow my mind.

rickair7777

Back in the day, it used to be somewhat acceptable for two DPE's to go for an airplane ride and then sign each other off for type ratings. Of course these were merely trophy ratings, which would hopefully never be used for real.

FlyerJosh

John and Martha King also have every rating attainable (ATP/Comm- Airplane SE/ME Land & Sea, Glider, Rotorcraft, Free Balloon... etc) They also each have at least 1 type rating.

Clay Lacy is another "collector" of type ratings.

chazbird

Well, what good do they do you? Ask me about being marketable with a Hansa Jet and CV880 and types....

TonyC

One of the best "students" I've ever had the pleasure of learning from. A nicer guy you'll never meet.


BTW, he holds a Guinness record for number of Type Ratings.




.

ClutchCargo

Plus, he has a very impressive "I love me" wall in the AOC.

John Lear: fruitcake of the fruitiest variety.

http://www.greatdreams.com/John-Lear.htm

skycowboy

That sucks... I can't foresee that, it would be really that acceptable. To do something like that, I would seriously hope the two DPE's went through the training and could adequately pass a checkride per the PTS. Most of the pilots I have run across are hardcore, and couldn't sleep at night with a "hand-it-to-me" rating. What the heck is a trophy rating if you didn't do the work?

They don't do you much good at all - since most likely you'll never use 75% of them again but AOPA did an article with Briggs, he said he collects them because "they are out there" and I guess he is just fascinated with these machines. I think its just out of a labor of love for the flying than anything.

Hey Tony, yeah, I would like to meet Mr. Briggs for sure. I know someone who flies for FedEx that was telling me about him, thats how I ran across his stuff.

AOC? Meaning? Oh man John Lear has lost his mind, he is a nut...

BTW Heres another one of these interesting guys. Keith J. Mackey he's got pretty much all the ratings and has 76 types...
http://www.keithmackey.com/

ClutchCargo

AOC: Air Operations Center. FedEx's flight ops facility in KMEM.

Briggs is a nice guy.

CL65driver

How do you fit all those types on the back of one small piece of green plastic?

skycowboy

You don't - these guys carry 3 pages worth of stuff...