Christopher R. Hand serves as a Strategic Advisor to Young Pilots USA, consulting on corporate relationships, aviation careers, and flight training. Chris first got involved in aviation as a teenager, and started flying gliders at age 14.

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Chris is Senior Vice President for the Northeast Region at Clay Lacy Aviation, an international aircraft charter and management company, one of the largest in the industry. Mr. Hand has been a professional airshow performer, flown freight, and worked in aircraft leasing. Prior to his current position, he was President and Director of Operations at Key Air in Oxford, CT until 2016.

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Mr. Hand holds a B.S. in Aeronautical Studies from the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota.

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Chris has been an unofficial advisor to the Young Pilots USA teams since 2020 and recently agreed to formally advise our group.

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As a pilot, Mr. Hand is an Airline Transport Pilot with AMEL and AMES ratings and Commercial ASEL, ASES, and Glider ratings. Mr. Hand holds CFI, CFII, MEI, and CFI-G instruction certifications, type ratings in the Bombardier Global Express series, Dassault Falcon 50 series, Dassault Falcon 2000 series, Gulfstream G650 series, and BAe 125 series, and is a designated pilot examiner (DPE) for multi-engine aircraft and seaplanes. He has over 12,000 hours of total time and has flown over 90 types of aircraft.

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As an aircraft owner, Mr. Hand currently owns and operates his 1956 Cessna 180A Skywagon, and previously owned a Pitts, Maule, and Grob 103 glider.

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Chris lives in Middlebury, CT with his son Ethan and daughter Ava.