Greg’s “sky bio”
Greg Brown’s passion for piloting is obvious to anyone who knows his Cockpit Adventures from the Flying Carpet Podcast, his 20-year “Flying Carpet” aviation adventure column in AOPA Flight Training magazine, or who has read his books, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane, The Savvy Flight Instructor, The Turbine Pilot’s Flight Manual (with Mark Holt), Job Hunting for Pilots, and You Can Fly! (with Laurel & Tom Lippert.)
A licensed pilot since 1972 and a CFI since 1979, Greg was recently awarded the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for fifty years of safe piloting. He was inducted into the Flight Instructor Hall of Fame in 2021, and was named 2000 Industry/FAA National Flight Instructor of the Year, winner of the 1999 NATA Excellence in Pilot Training Award and the 2013 AOPA Let’s Go Flying Award, and the first-ever Master Flight Instructor. He has flown professionally in both scheduled and corporate aviation, and holds an ATP pilot certificate with Boeing 737 type rating, and Flight Instructor certificate with all fixed-wing aircraft ratings.
Along with his writing activities, Greg has been an avid photographer from childhood. Since earning his pilot’s license at age 19, he’s been shooting photos from aloft, many of which have illustrated his Flying Carpet column and book, and appeared in solo- and group museum exhibits. Greg’s most memorable aerial and terrestrial photographs are available as Fine Art Metal Prints and Pilot Achievement Plaques.
Greg’s “earth bio”
Greg Brown is a widely published author, designer, and photographer. During his varied career, he has served as industrial, visual, and interior design faculty member in Purdue University’s Department of Creative Arts, led a product and visual design consultancy serving national corporate clients, and directed a functional-art collaborative. Along with fine art and photography, Mr. Brown’s commercial product design experience includes creative commissions for everything from toys to appliances to medical equipment to automobiles.
Most recently Greg’s activities have turned to a podcast and non-fiction and creative writing. Author of five commercially published books with more in progress, Mr. Brown is a former Barnes & Noble Arizona Author of the Month. Some reviewers have compared his book, Flying Carpet, to 1960s road-trip classics like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Mr. Brown also served 20 years as aviation adventure columnist for AOPA Flight Training magazine, published by the world’s largest pilot association.
Over the years Brown has spoken extensively on topics including aviation adventure, careers, networking, art promotion, design methodology, and creative problem solving. Among his popular topics is “Armchair Marketing: Secrets of Selling your Writing.” (Few other authors have sold their first two books to a publisher with one telephone call, then broken the press’s first-year sales record with one of them.)
Greg holds an MFA in Art & Design: Industrial Design and a BS in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, following Integrated Liberal Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an emeritus Dean’s Advisory Council member for the College of Arts & Letters, Northern Arizona University.
Those bewildered by Greg’s schizophrenia between arts and aviation may gain some understanding from one of his favorite quotes, from The War in the Air, 1922, by Sir Walter Raleigh: “The engine is the heart of an aeroplane, but the pilot is its soul.”
©2013, 2017, 2021, 2023 Gregory N. Brown
I really enjoyed reading this bio. I like hearing about the arty side quite a lot!
Hi Greg…..Your career is obviously in high gear. I have great admiration for your accomplishments. This is a fine website and it is obvious that you are making a substantial contribution to all who wish to know the joy and the responsibilities that go with the privilege. I wish you and your wonderful faminy fair skies and happy landings….It is a great honor to be friends …. Thanks for keeping me on your mailing list. Bud Farrington
Hey Greg. great blog on Keven’s “secret” Mission I flew with Phil Benham transporting 3 condors to the Baja mountains for release to the wild. quite the adventure with the Mexican military, Drop me a line and I’ll show what I have for pics. Maybe worth a blog….Mike. Misplaced your e-mail
I just finished Flying Carpet. I didn’t want it to end. Thanks for such an enjoyable read
Tom Davia
N2194q
Thank you, Tom! You have made my day! A small thing you could do for me, if you’re willing, is cut and paste that same gracious comment as a new reader review at http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Carpet-Soul-an-Airplane/dp/1560276223/sr=1-1/qid=1157382205/ref=sr_1_1/002-5420194-6459266?ie=UTF8&s=books More to come!
Tell me about your flying!
Greg, your bio fails to mention the halcyon days of yore at StatesWest Airlines!
Ron! How are you ol’ buddy? Still in Freeport? How’s all with you and the girls? Good to “hear your voice!”
Greg-love the column! Hope all is well-happy flying. Dave.
Thanks Dave! Are you still flying too? BTW, I encountered Buck Hudgeons on FB. He’s still soaring, now down in TX.
Just read your article in the April issue of AOPA flight training. Great thing you guys did for Gian love to hear those stories. I own a c172h and live on Long Island N.Y. Keep my 172 at Brookhaven airport ( KHWV ) and my son is a CFII and multi CFII. If you hear of any one that is interested in avation and is in this area we’d love to give them the chance to realy see how exciting it is to fly. Thank you again , Ken Romano
Thank you for those kind words, Ken! I will indeed make note of your generous offer. Are you on Facebook? If so, you and your son both please consider joining my Student Pilot Pep Talk Group. Lots of folks there at every stage of training looking for inspiration and knowledge from those of us who’ve already been there. You’d be a great resource for inspiring those in training!
I’ve read all of Richard Haliburton books so I have to assume you read Flying Carpet. What a great author and world vagabond. I wish in the worst way the world was a safe place to take a Flying Carpet and land anywhere something looked interesting. Tragically it is not. Keep up the good work.
I indeed read all of Halliburton’s books, John, and in fact named our airplane and my column after his Stearman, along with my book, Flying Carpet: the Soul of an Airplane. My mom is a fan of his, and remembers reading his dispatches as a girl. Thanks to her I read his books as a teenager. What an inspiration! Although I agree that many (if not most) places he landed are currently dangerously out of our reach, I feel a similar sense of adventure in accessing safer destinations with my own Flying Carpet, which is why I was so inspired by his travels. Are you active as a pilot yourself? And if so, what are your favorite destinations? Thank you for your kind words!
PS: John, you might appreciate my posts concerning Halliburton and the Flying Carpet, How the Flying Carpet Got Its Name, and Featured Past Column: Old Pals and N-numbers. Incidentally I had the opportunity to chat with Halliburton’s niece several years ago.
You the bomb. Miss you Ole pal–leo
Love what you’re up to.!! Leo
Hey Leo! I emailed you the day you posted, to catch up. How are you??
Hello, sir. It was nice to have talked to you today. Thank you for your insight!
And you, John. I look forward to experiencing your music!