Private Air & Private AirMart | Chillin' Like Flynn

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Aviator Profiles : Chillin' Like Flynn

Neither hail nor stress can keep this rater from his appointed beach.

By: Nick Kolakowski
May/June 2007 , Page 44

Sun-bleached baseball cap perched on his head and loose polo shirt hanging on his torso, F. Patrick Flynn comes across as the tropics given human form. This Cape Coral, Florida–based entrepreneur plays Warren Buffett in the office, but in the air, he’s Jimmy Buffett in look and spirit. | As with many aviators, Flynn’s flight of fancy — or, rather, fancy for flight — goes back to his childhood. It just took some time before he could act on it. “I flew a little in college, then ran out of money and had to put that on the back burner,” he says. Then, in the early ’80s, his leveraged buyout of three textile companies led him to visit several remote factories, giving birth to a different kind of opportunity. “I really needed good, reliable transportation from point A to point B,” he says. “I started out chartering, then took lessons and finally got my private and commercial licenses.”

True, Flynn’s a planner — about everything from flight scheduling (to avoid choppy weather) to business deals (he specializes in food importing, with a side career in venture capital). But it’s not because he’s uptight. He’s trying to avoid being uptight. “I try to keep myself in situations that aren’t stressful,” he explains.

He doesn’t always succeed, though. He once found himself flying through a hailstorm so powerful it stripped the paint off the leading edges of the wing — an in-flight experience he counts among his most demanding. But he was prepared: After college, he “spent a year and a half flying in the military. You train yourself so you know what to do,” he says. “You keep the wings level and your head about you, and in three minutes, it’s over.”

Flynn prefers to seek adventure that’s less thrill and more chill. He regularly takes flying excursions — hopping from Block Island to Martha’s Vineyard, for example, where he’ll touch down, then stride across the road for a day at the beach.

“Every Saturday morning I go flying,” he says. “My friends can check their watch at precisely 9 a.m., and know what I’m doing. Almost every time the wheels go up, the stress just goes by.”

For the last 10 years, he’s flown a Mooney 201 J — a super-fast fixed-wing craft with a tremendous rate of climb —and he loves it. “It’s like a good girlfriend,” he says. “It takes care of you.” Needing more range and speed, he’s looking to trade up — all the better to visit Caribbean business contacts. And, while there, Margaritaville, no doubt.