In 1942, Ueltschi began working with Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), the unofficial U.S. flag carrier, whose pilots were known as “Masters of Ocean Flying Boats.”3 In 1946, he became the personal pilot for Pan Am founder and legendary businessman, Juan Trippe, a job Ueltschi would hold until he stopped piloting planes at age fifty-one in 1968. From this vantage point, Ueltschi perceived another need: formal training for a growing civilian pilot corps.
After World War II, the dominant segment of airline traffic was private corporate fleets carrying company managers. Corporations would buy retired military aircraft and refurbish them for their executives’ use. But many pilots lacked training to fly these planes. To provide it, in 1951, Ueltschi started FlightSafety, which he operated out of the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport in New York, where the company’s headquarters remain today.
At first, Ueltschi hired experienced commercial pilots from the major airlines to conduct training. Practice involved using both the client’s aircraft and instrument trainers Ueltschi rented from commercial airlines. Early clients included Burlington Industries, Eastman Kodak, and National Distillers. As his company succeeded and private business aviation proliferated, Ueltschi made a big bet on the future of flight training: he mortgaged his house to raise funds to expand FlightSafety.4 He also plowed all of FlightSafety’s profits back into the business, relying on his Pan Am salary for personal and family expenses. In another innovative financing device, he got several corporate customers, including Alcoa, Coca-Cola, and Eastman Kodak, to prepay for services five years in advance.5
These funds brought Ueltschi closer to his vision, when in 1961, he acquired several flight trainers of his own. They were used to teach pilots to “fly blind,” meaning to rely on instrument panels rather than eyesight. After Pan Am created a business jet division to market Falcon Jets for a French manufacturer, Ueltschi persuaded Trippe to include pilot and technician training as part of the purchase price.6
In 1961, Ueltschi recruited Bruce N. Whitman, a young entrepreneur equally passionate about flight, then working for the National Business Aviation Association. Whitman became FlightSafety’s number two—a role he played until finally succeeding Ueltschi when the latter retired in 2003 at age eighty-six.7 Ueltschi and Whitman grew FlightSafety steadily through the late 1960s, taking the company public in 1968, with Ueltschi retaining a 34-percent interest.
By the early 1970s, FlightSafety’s principal competition in the business aviation market was from aircraft manufacturers, which provided pilot training as part of the purchase price of new aircraft. Ueltschi and Whitman realized that FlightSafety’s success depended on persuading manufacturers to outsource this function. They explained to manufacturers that investing in FlightSafety training would improve their aircraft’s safety record, a valuable reputation for which customers are willing to pay.8
During the 1970s, most manufacturers signed up with FlightSafety. They realized they would do better focusing on design and production while putting training in the hands of specialists. Learjet, for instance, opted to delegate pilot training for its aircraft to FlightSafety, which built a training center at a Learjet plant. FlightSafety soon struck similar deals with other manufacturers, solidifying its business position by 1980. Before long, FlightSafety provided training for the planes built by most business aircraft manufacturers, including Beechcraft, Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault Falcon, Embraer, and Gulfstream.
Further growth in the 1980s came from expansion into military pilot training, with FlightSafety winning a 1984 Air Force contract at Fort Rucker in Alabama. In a budget-conscious move, it was the lowest bidder by virtue of having acquired a facility near the base and installing a simulator there.
In addition, this entrepreneurial culture spurred the creation of a new profit center, manufacturing and selling simulators, which still prospers today. The culture also prompted the development of training programs for ship captains operating oil tankers at customers like Texaco, commanders of military vessels for the U.S. Navy, and operators of nuclear power plants. But these ventures eventually closed as FlightSafety opted to stick with what it does best, Whitman explained in an interview for this book.
In the 1980s, FlightSafety courted regional commercial airlines. In a replay of its efforts in the 1970s, it persuaded these potential customers to outsource pilot training. These airlines agreed that letting specialists provide this expertise would enable them to concentrate on scheduling, routing, marketing, and customer service. Although the major U.S. commercial carriers did not generally outsource training, FlightSafety occasionally landed their business, as it did with TWA in the 1980s.