January 26th, 2000

[6:00 AM] Attention Apple: This Guy Wants To Pilot Jobs' New Jet (With More Pics) by Staff Duane Pandorf, who is affectionately known by the call-sign "Dorf" in the flyways, is bucking for a job flying Steve Jobs' new Gulfstream V, or G-V in industry parlance. Mr. Jobs was awarded the multi-million dollar super-executive jet as part of his recently announced compensation package from Apple. Mr. Pandorf is actually serious about this, and has the credentials to back it up. He's also a Mac user. Since Observers have been going nuts over information on the G-V, we thought we would let him makes his pitch here at The Mac Observer. :-) According to Mr. Pandorf: Now that Mr. Jobs will be receiving a new G-V who is going to pilot the machine? I'm retiring from the Navy in the near future and happen to be the Navy's G-III and G-IV Program Manager/Flight Standards Officer. I have a type rating and ATP in the G-IV. The individual who previously had the job I now occupy is employed by Gulfstream in their sales/demonstration department and flies the G-III, G-IV and G-V. In fact he was part of the crew that just recently set the time record flying the G-V from Tokyo to Paris. The Gulfstream product is pretty cool to fly. I've been all around the world in it and can say it's a dream to fly! My prior aviation experience includes 8.5 years in the Marine Corps flying A-4s. I then transferred over to the Navy and was sent out to NAS Miramar where I was an Adversary Instructor Pilot for 4 years. If you saw Top Gun we played the bad guys simulating Eastern Block tactics. And then I moved over to transport aircraft. A lot less "G" pulling! Where I've flown the DC-9 and now the G-IV. I've also had to jump out of an A-4 10 years ago making a successful ejection and not killing anybody on the ground. Long story, met my wife a few days prior to the incident. The following are some pictures Mr. Pandorf sent of himself and one of the Gulfstream jets he flies. Must be nice! The Mac Observer is currently looking into leasing options on our own G-V for company outings. We'll keep you updated. :-) Duane, The Man, The Legend... The Cockpit Of A G-Something Duane in front of a G-IV, we think Nice PowerBook! Nice office too... Click each image for a larger version The Mac Observer Spin: We wish Duane the best of luck getting the gig with Mr. Jobs. Someone, or 'someones,' at Apple will read this and hopefully get the word to the Big Man himself. That is assuming that Mr. Jobs hasn't already seen the story himself... Seriously though folks, it has been amazing to see just how much interest there is in this whole "jet" thing from Mac users around the world. Almost all of the feedback we have gotten from Observers has been overwhelmingly positive too. Observers seem to feel that Mr. Jobs has earned his jet and his stock options. Apple