George H Kriss

Here are some pictures for those who've known me over a number of years.
(Yes, I grew up in Arcadia, California)
Please contact me for links to private pages - see below

george kriss-36
george kriss-40
george kriss-60
36 years
40 years
60 years
Today 2024 - I'm a bit smarter!
The years have been kind to me as I'm still
doing the same digging, trimming trees, etc.
I did 30 years ago. But now the years have
provided wisdom beyond working around the
house, yard, flying, operating a business and
I now know whom my friends are and not,
which have been edited and or deleted.

Learjet factory pilot in Tucson, AZ

A brief synopsis from my days as a professional pilot.

Learjet

My world view - "Be humble about your accomplishments."

This is factual information similar to a resume' or CV.
I seldom discuss any of this on a daily basis for obvious reasons.

Some detailed information - my background encompasses over 30 years of flying experience including the position as a corporate pilot operating turboprop, turbojet and turbofan aircraft. Extensive world wide experience includes Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The western hemisphere includes North and South America. Operated a King Air 200 and a Learjet 25 for the Northrop Aircraft Company while living in Daharan, Saudi Arabia for three years in the 1970's.. One flight even though routine still makes me smile. We were in between Riyadh and Dhahran at 51,000 feet. Flight traffic in this area was controlled by Bahrain that employed mostly English controllers, some of whom had that dry English sense of humor. I advised Bahrain Control at being ready for decent and the controller said "80BT you're cleared for reentry". Taking this job was one of the best choices in my life as it directed my life and career in an enviable direction. During a trip to Germany in 1979 we drove across East Germany (DDR) to Berlin and viewed the entire Berlin wall. I personally climbed up on the wall looking over and taking pictures of the guards taking pictures of me taking pictures of them. Made many trips to Athens, Greece, both flying as well as R&R, climbing around the Acropolis several times as well as other Greek ruins. I felt the these were more impressive than the Roman ruins. Other flights took me to Amman Jordan, Damascus Syria. Tehran Iran, Doha Qatar. After return from overseas in 1980 I flew a Learjet a short time for the guys who owned and crewed the Double Eagle balloon that made the first Atlantic crossing. I joined the Learjet Corporation in 1980 at the Tucson facility. After ferrying a Learjet 36 to Geneva Switzerland in the 1980's and a brief stay living in Geneva flying for the owner I then did some corporate flying and crew training in Sao Paulo Brazil for the owner of a Learjet 35.. The owner in Switzerland used the Learjet between his home base in Geneva Switzerland and France, the United Kingdom and Canada. The Learjet in Brazil was used in country as well as other South American countries, the Caribbean and to the United States.

The 1980's were spent with the Learjet factory in Tucson Arizona as a Factory Marketing Demonstration Pilot. These duties included corporate transport, company representation at aviation conventions like the Paris Air Show or the National Business Aircraft Association. Many times it was necessary to fly a customers trips and assist the company officials while their crew members were in ground training at Flight Safety. An important aspect of our job was the training of customer crews including Air Force C-21 pilots. Some of my collateral duties included occasional production flight testing which included stall flights and aircraft certification. Support of the marketing department required transporting corporate executives of companies interested in purchasing a new airplane, or fleet, as well as Heads of State. Often we operated in and out of diverse airports and remote locations that a routine flight operation may never experience. I've flown the Learjet into airports located in narrow valleys in the Swiss and Italian Alps as well as dirt strips in other countries. North Atlantic and Pacific crossings were often included in flights originating or ending in the continental United States. One assignment in 1985 covered Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Spain, Portugal and lasted for one month.

Our duties occasionally included test flights of experimental or new production aircraft. These airplanes ranged from conventional to all glass (EFIS) cockpits and flight test procedures involved all realms of flight including both ends of the flight envelope to insure the aircraft met the FAA safety standards for pilot operations and passenger safety. We even flew "experimental" planes beyond the high speed limits. One flight that was certainly out of the realm of normal was demonstrating some special target tow equipment to the British Royal Air Force and simulating a Dog Fight with an F-15 and a Lightning over the North Sea. All of these very different aspects of our work gave us the chance to see and learn how to handle a jet airplane at its' extremes of the envelope. The job with Learjet gave us an opportunity to fly with and share time with some very well known people which included, for myself, the FAA Administrator, Neil Armstrong (several times, very humble man) and others. The experience gained in those early days with Learjet was something that was priceless and gave us a depth of knowledge about the Learjet airplane and the flight testing of jet airplanes that today's pilots out flying the line will never experience. This type of flight certainly keeps one knowledgeable, respectful and understanding of an airplanes limits. It develops confidence in the airplane.

I began experimenting with long range operations while living in the Middle East and this eventually became one of my specialties. I formulated long range profiles for the Lear 25, Lear 35 and the Learjet 55, prior to the publishing of the 55's Pilots Manual in 1982. This profile was used by some of the Learjet pilots who had access to these numbers. However, they were not widely published out of concern that the attention to the scope and detail required more than that of normal pilot activities on a daily basis. The president of the company and myself achieved six world records in 1983, using my Lear 55 profile, that were recognized by both the Federation Aeronautique Internationale and the National Aeronautic Association of the United States. These included Los Angeles-Paris-Los Angeles in a Learjet 55LR. On a separate occasion in 1982 I conducted the first nonstop flight in a standard Learjet 55 from San Francisco to Honolulu, the longest over water stretch in the world with no place to land for fuel or an emergency. I left Learjet as the Senior Captain in 1989 and continued residing in Arizona after Learjet was sold and operations were moved to Kansas. Not wanting to move away from my home in Arizona and then continuing flying on a contract basis turned out to be another of my good choices as moving to Kansas would have eventually become disastrous.


FAA ratings- ATP ASEL, ATP AMEL, Com'l Glider,
G1159 (Gulfstream) type rating, LR (Learjet) type rating,
CFI-A&I, A&P Mechanic.

Experience --------------------to the nearest 1000
Flight Time ----------------------------- 13,000 hrs +
Turbine------------------------------------ 8,000 hrs
Total Jet ---------------------------------- 6,000 hrs +
Total instructor time--------------------- 5,000 hrs
Learjet factory corp./ marketing & sales
demonstration ----------------------------3,500 hrs
Learjet factory instructor pilot--------- 1,000 hrs
King Air 200 ------------------------------ 2,000 hrs
Twin Cessna ----------------------------- 1,000 hrs

Prior to taking a position overseas in 1977 I spent a number
of years obtaining my advanced ratings, teaching flying and
working on airplanes from the Van Nuys airport in the Los
Angeles area of California.

I did some contract flying in 2001 and invested in the
training to meet the currency requirements. Flew a number of Gulfstream trips along with some Challenger 604 trips but after the Sep. 11 attacks aviation was greatly reduced so this idea
was abandoned. It turned out aviation didn't recover for a number of years.

Flight Safety PPE Learjet 20 thru 55 (61.58 12/24 month)
and Part 135.293 & 135.297
August 2000

Simuflite PPE Gulfstream III (61.58 12/24 month) and
Part 135.293 & Part 135.297
March 2001

Simuflite Gulfstream II differences (Part 135.293)
June 2001

Emergency & Water Survival training
March 2001

 


Gulfstream 3

N87GK
In 1995 I purchased a 1976 Cessna 421C for travel
to conventions and sales trips for my small electronics
manufacturing company that was founded in 1988.
A result of the 2003 recession and then the Great
Recession it sat for a number of years. After considerable
expense and a years work getting it flyable it was
finally sold in 2018 and I retired the same year.

cessna 421 -1
cessna 421 -2
cessna 172
N7820X
Those from my years in the Van Nuys area will remember my
Cessna 172 purchased in 1971. I overhauled the engine, installed the new interior and painted it in 1975. It was again refurbished including new paint in 1993. It sat for 20 years so the avionics was obsolete and unusable. It was sold in 2018.

 

 

 


My retirement allows me to enjoy my home of over 40 years with great projects and care of the landscaping.


kriss-front yardInstallation of 7000 sq. ft. brick driveway September 2023


George H. Kriss

email to

The Berlin Wall and being behind the Iron Curtain taught me something to remember.