Taylor Brown

Airline Pilot and Dad of 2. Entrepreneur and Equity Partner at Nomadic Aviation Group. Views are my own.

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@ToddKallenbach @aviationbrk No sir! Not us!

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@SteveNomadic Don’t forget to teach them the DIFSRIPP!

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@CaptBob_Nomadic Couldn’t agree more.

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@SteveNomadic After 15 years in the business, I’m going back to commuting to reserve here at Spirit, after the announcement here of more furloughs and downgrades. I can’t leave the industry fast enough!

[Thenewarea51 @thenewarea51]

My ears perked up when I heard VALKYRIE 35 wkg BAHRAIN CONTROL via @liveatc. I don’t recall hearing this callsign before, how do you abbreviate that into 5 letters? VLKRY35? I’m not so much interested in what I can see on ADSB, I’m interested in the things I cannot see.

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

U.S. officials confirm to Reuters that none of the ballistic missiles fired tonight by Iran impacted inside Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

[AZ Intel @AZ_Intel_]

"Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan condemned Iran's attack on the Al Udeid military base in Qatar, according to statements from the countries' ministry of foreign affairs."

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@CaptBob_Nomadic @flightradar24 Maybe I’ll pass you by somewhere over the Midwest!

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@CaptBob_Nomadic @Nomadic_OMD Will miss you deeply Neil. I have nothing but fond memories of our trips together. Rest in peace brother.

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@SteveNomadic The comments on the original post are absolutely bonkers.

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@CaptBob_Nomadic @Nomadic_OMD Mr. TREFF!!!

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@OMD_SkyDog @SauryaAirlines I remember this trip! Sad to hear of the loss of life. The videos are horrifying.

[Bob Allen @CaptBob_Nomadic]

My son, @aidan_allen101 flew into @JacksonJetPHX with @Nomadic_OMD OMD273 and @CaptGrant , while my daughter, @illi_milli_ and I delivered the Los Favs burritos! Meanwhile, @zonallen was inside keeping the granddaughter happy. Great to have the whole family involved in the business!

[Bob Allen @CaptBob_Nomadic]

Look at the dust we stirred up!
Our B777-300ER takeoff and landing at KMZJ! @Nomadic_OMD @JTTsteve

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@OMD_SkyDog Really love these stories Bob. The lessons you’ve learned provide benefits to all of us. We’ll keep doing our best to get in the way

[Bob Allen @CaptBob_Nomadic]

Business growth strategy: Get in the way. The Godfather might just take a liking to you.

When I started my first ferry business, Avia Crew Leasing, I had no idea what I was doing. I was making wild guesses on estimating things like navigation fees, ground handling, etc, etc. No website, no business cards, just a phone and a fax machine. This was back in 2001 when emails were not yet the prime form of communication. I would cold call, fax and knock on the doors of aircraft leasing companies, hoping to get through to the Director of Technical.

My wife was an aircraft portfolio manager at the time and we had friends who ran the technical department. I would pick up a few deals through those connections, but my marketing efforts found mostly terrible deals, that the real players in this business wouldn't touch.

In 2002 I heard about a Texas Billionaire and Aviation Entrepreneur partnering up to buy all of the old USAir fleet of 737's and MD80's. It consisted of over 100 aircraft that would need to be ferried all over the world. I began finding out who they were and started calling, faxing and using my small network to get a convo with them. This deal would put me on the map as a real player in the aircraft ferry business. I was relentless in my persistence to get in on this deal. I knew I had to make it happen. Those efforts did lead me to a call with the principals in the deal, who told me to submit a proposal to move the first airplanes. First one rejected. "Sharpen your pencil" they would say. I would reduce my quote and margins and resubmit. This went on to the point I was barely above break even. I knew I had to get this deal but I couldn't do multiple airplanes at a loss. It was soul crushing knowing that my efforts had landed me in front a major deal, but I wasn't going to be able to make it happen. I started having doubts about making it on my own and the fear of not being able to support my family.

Not long after my final "pencil sharpened" proposal, I was standing in my front yard and got a call...it was from a 520 Tucson, AZ area code. I answered and an older deep voice said "Hi, this is Walter Cole, I understand you have ferry business. Have you heard my name before?"

I was stunned, scared, nervous and couldn't stop my voice from shaking. Walter Cole was the originator of aircraft ferry and a prolific aviation entrepreneur. He had owned airlines that flew sports teams and most of the rock bands on tour in the 80's. He WAS the Godfather. Every non-sched and ferry pilot knew who he was. Walter had been moving airplanes for decades and was the "go to" guy at every leasing company in the world. He was wealthy, had an impeccable reputation as a pilot and businessman and one of those guys with a magnetic personality that you couldn't help but like. He knew CEO's, Heads of State, rock stars and sports hero's. He was legendary in aviation. I had heard of him for years and always wanted to meet him. But now, via divine intervention, he had called me! I knew this call was not for mutual admiration, quite the opposite, likely to inform me of my upcoming execution. I was literally shaking in my shoes. Nervously I said, "of course I know who you are! You're the man I want to be. I'm trying to model my business by what you created" He laughed, I felt a little better, and then he said in his Oklahoma accent "Son, we're going to do some business together"

Walter was the other company trying to get that big USair contract. They were using us against each other to grind each of us down in price. Walter provided a new strategy that benefited the two of us. Walter got that contract and I ran it all. He mentored me, showed me the secret sauce on how to make money, introduced me to his network and eventually turned the reigns of his own business over to me...for nothing in return. Get in the way and great things happen.

[Taylor Brown @taylorbrown233]

@dangeroo78 @Aviation_Intel So true. The recent GAO report about legacy platform readiness and dispatch reliability was damning. Support on these platforms must be given adequate investment, and contracts that provide support to small batch manufacturers need to be implemented.

[Bob Allen @CaptBob_Nomadic]

Famous in Japan! 🤣 Love seeing my @Nomadic_OMD in media that I can't even read.
Being a global company, we market Nomadic via a large social media presence. My partner @JTTsteve with his YouTube channel "Cockpit Casual" @speedtapefilms and my TikTok "Captain Bob", entertain millions and show our company in action to potential clients.

[Bob Allen @CaptBob_Nomadic]

My first flying job was flying skydivers in 50's era C182's out of Lackey Airfield, a grass strip outside of Berea, KY.

83-84 while I was in high school, I spent every weekend flying skydivers. It was the wildest group of people that I had ever seen and the most fun I'd ever had to date!

Some of the weekend personalities would eventually become notorious figures that would be memorialized in books and movies. Read "The Bluegrass Conspiracy"....if you want to really get the view.

One of them, Drew Thornton, a few years later, unknowingly fed the Cocaine Bear (recent movie) the cocaine when he tossed it out of the plane, had hired me at the jump club and opened my eyes to a world I had no idea existed! I was mesmerized by their larger than life lives and wild flying stories. Smugglers, gun runners, lawyers, politicians, fancy cars, cash, expensive meals and beautiful women were my new view of the world!

Growing up in the Mormon church, I was fairly naive and had never been around adults who were having this much fun! I was hooked on the adrenaline and being accepted into this world of very interesting people. Needless to say, I didn't end up going on a Mormon mission!

Summer of 1983 I learned how to really fly airplanes. Old oil covered airplanes that required 3-4 quarts every 45 minute flight. In/out of grass strip in a variety of conditions. Learned to takeoff and land on an unlit grass strip at night with no lights while they practiced low level night jumps! Why were they teaching me such skills? 😂

That summer we all faced death, up close and personal. A skydiver who was part of the "inner group" had jumped out of my plane and was killed when his chute failed to open. The lessons learned about people's emotions, including my own, and death itself are fodder for another story...

[GAV AIR CAPITAL @GAVAIRCAP]

We are excited to add another platform company to the GAV Holdings portfolio!
https://t.co/HDmHehcOXM
PREO ISR will change the way law enforcement departments procure aircraft and ISR platforms.

https://t.co/KYg5eVOkxi