Aviation Entrepreneur and Warbird Pilot Eric Zipkin to Present at Young Pilots USA
Young Pilots USA is excited to announce that Eric Zipkin will be presenting the fourth installment of our Virtual Guest Speaker series at 7:00 P.M. on Thursday, March 4th, 2021. Mr. Zipkin will be presenting on opportunities for young pilots and aviation enthusiasts to get involved in warbirds and aviation history preservation.
Mr. Zipkin is the President of Tradewind Aviation, an independent regional airline and air charter company he founded with one airplane in 2001. Today, Tradewind is the largest U.S. operator of Pilatus PC-12s for charter, and operates almost 25 aircraft in total, with bases in Oxford, CT, White Plains, NY, and San Juan, PR. He is also the President of the Board of Directors at the Tunison Foundation, a military aviation history preservation non-profit operating a historic D-Day veteran aircraft, the 1942 Douglas C-47 Placid Lassie, which also organized the 2019 "D-Day Squadron" project, which brought an American contingent of 15 DC-3/C-47/C-53 aircraft to Europe to celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
Mr. Zipkin holds a B.S. in Economics and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and attended the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. He has been featured in the New York Times, AOPA Pilot, and Flying magazine, and has been a featured speaker at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
As a pilot, Eric holds an Airline Transport Pilot license with ASEL, ASEL, AMEL, and AMES ratings, along with type ratings in the Cessna Citation 525 series, Douglas DC-3, and a VFR-only type rating in the Grumman TBM Avenger. A former professional seaplane flight instructor, Mr. Zipkin holds CFI and MEI instruction qualifications, and is also one of the only American instructors certified to instruct at Rémy de Haenen Airport (TFFJ) in St. Barth. He holds a FAST Lead formation qualification and led the only known formation of civilian aircraft to fly over a U.S. President, with several other heads of state also in attendance. With over 10,000 hours in the air across over 60 types, much of it in tailwheel, radial-engined, and warbird aircraft, he has made almost a dozen Atlantic crossings in light aircraft and performed at airshows across the United States.
Young Pilots USA is America’s only nationwide members’ association of young aviators that’s actually run by young people, with an annual fly-in, guest speaker series, a great aviation community, and chapters in 6 states and growing!