by Charlie Precourt, Chair of the CJP Safety & Education Foundation and CJP Safety Committee
It’s been a while since we’ve published an issue of CJP’s Right Seat safety newsletter, but rest assured the CJP Safety Committee has been far from idle in our efforts to expand the resources available to Citation and Premier owners and pilots and elevate further the level of proficiency throughout our community.
Leading these efforts is the recent hiring of Dave Morisey as our new Director for Safety, Education, and Training. Dave brings more than 30 years of aviation experience to this role, including his recent work as a CE-680A Citation Latitude instructor with FlightSafety International.
Dave’s a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He began his aviation career as a glider instructor at the Academy before completing ENJJPT pilot training at Sheppard AFB.
Later, he flew C-9 Nightingale medevac missions across Europe from Ramstein AB, then spent over a decade as a KC-10 instructor and evaluator at McGuire and Travis AFB, where he was honored as Instructor Pilot of the Year in 2002. From 2004 to 2021, Dave flew the MD-11 internationally for FedEx, serving as Captain from 2016 onward.
I’m incredibly pleased to welcome Dave to CJP and I’m excited by what he brings to our association. As he shares in this issue of Right Seat about the joy he feels from flying, we must never forget we operate in an environment “where safety isn’t just important. It’s personal.”
This approach also ties in well with some major news about CJP’s Gold Standard Safety Award, including changes intended to make achievement more attainable for legacy Citation pilots and to expand learning opportunities for all members.
Also in this issue, we highlight CJP’s participation in AOPA’s National Pause for General Aviation Safety, an important opportunity to take time to reflect on best safety practices and learn something new to enhance your Citation operating experience.
Our CEO, Rob Balzano, also shares the significance of his personal motto, “Fly Safe & Check-6!” The latter is an expression rooted in fighter aircraft culture that Rob believes, “symbolizes our commitment to being wingmen for one another, as members of CJP.”
On behalf of the committee, we hope this content is valuable to you all… As we also face a sobering reminder of the importance of placing safety at the forefront of every flight we take.
As this issue of “Right Seat” came together, we learned of a fatal accident involving a legacy Citation on approach to land at Montgomery Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF) near San Diego, CA. Six people lost their lives in the crash, including the pilot who’d just recently joined CJP.
While full details of the circumstances of this accident and any contributing factors await the publication of the NTSB’s probable cause report, the available information at hand should lead us to pause and reflect on our own operations while avoiding speculation.
We all take immense pride and elation flying our aircraft, but we must remember to always examine the decisions we make and our own ability to safely operate each flight.
Fly safe,
Charlie