King Air Pilot – Texas

Wise people will tell you that you’re never too old to learn.  Texas-based JetPro Pilots associate, Bruce Emero, has taken that advice to heart and wants to keep flying while he prepares for a second part-time career on the ground — all at age 63.

Bruce has flown with JetPro since 2021, his assignments through JetPro Trip have mostly been with a client that recently shifted from the King Air 350 he specializes into the larger Embraer Praetor 500. The switch left Bruce with a choice: spend the time and money required to gain certification and follow this flight department with whom he has established a great relationship with into the Praetor or follow his heart and become a nurse specializing in hospice care.

The decision he made landed him in the pre-nursing program at the Texas A&M University campus in Corpus Christi, where Bruce and his wife Jovita live. He expects to progress next summer into the full-time nursing program. When that happens, he’ll be balancing two challenging careers, not only a new field of study but also continuing to fly the King Air 350.

“I think I’ll be able to at least continue flying part-time because this JetPro thing has been perfect for me,” he says of his future. “It’s totally unscheduled. I’m not forced to take a trip if I don’t want to. It’s just ideal for what I’ve been doing the last several years. And I don’t see why it wouldn’t fit in with a part-time nursing career, too.”

Bruce completed undergraduate work at Holy Cross College, in his native Massachusetts. He retired from the Navy, where he was a helicopter and King Air pilot and had risen to the rank of full commander, in 2009. He then spent more than a decade as a civilian contract pilot in multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft, building a resume that includes wartime intelligence and reconnaissance missions in Afghanistan.

His interest in nursing came about when he helped care for his ailing mother.

“She passed away 12 years ago,” Bruce reflects. “She had a severe stroke, but by the grace of God and outstanding medical intervention, she survived. But she was never the same afterward. The last nearly three years of her life, she was severely handicapped … I mean, it was tough … I spent all of my spare time when I wasn’t deployed overseas working back home helping my dad take care of her. I found the work deeply satisfying and gratifying. Since then, I’ve had this urge to pursue nursing at some point in my life.”

That point arrived in 2023, when Bruce began his course work. He is on track to begin his final year of studies in 2027.

“It is a long process,” he says of his path to providing end-of-life care, adding: “It’s like becoming a pilot.”