Gary Rower began flying at age 16 from an apple orchard in upstate New York. Since that time he has accumulated more than 18,000 hours of flying all over the world.

While a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy he became a soaring instructor and was Captain of the USAF Academy Soaring Team. Following graduation from the Academy, Gary attended USAF pilot training at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma from which he was a Distinguished Graduate.

His assignment out of pilot training was to what was then the Air Force’s newest fighter, the F-16 Fighting Falcon. These were the early days of the F-16 and Gary was the 136th USAF pilot worldwide to achieve 1000 hours in the aircraft. During that time he became an instructor and flight evaluator, participated in several Red Flags and was awarded Top Gun.

In 1986 Gary left active duty and joined a major air line which he has now been flying with for 20 plus years. During the late 1980’s he continued flying the F-16 with the Air Force Reserve in Utah. He currently holds an Air Transport Pilot rating in the Boeing 767,757,737 and DC-9 and flies to Europe and South America.