Gulfstream Pilot – California

As a 10 year old returning to his native Great Britain with his parents from a vacation in America, Jamie Redding was invited to join the cockpit crew for a very special occasion. From a jump seat in the Boeing 777 approaching London, he watched the sun come up. The experience was the dawn of a career for Jamie.

“It absolutely captivated me,” Jamie recalled in a recent interview. “The sunrise left me with a feeling that was almost spiritual. I knew then I wanted to fly, and I knew it was not just one of those fleeting things.”

Just eight years later, Jamie had his private license to go with his United States Green Card and a high school diploma.  From his family’s new home on Florida’s west coast, he embarked on a 22-year contract aviation journey that has featured stops across the U.S. and a solid connection with JetPro Pilots.

A friend from his early flying days referred Jamie to JetPro in 2022, and the relationship has worked well with his schedule.  These days, he is based in picturesque Monterey, California, and primarily flies for a JetPro client headquartered in the nearby Bay Area. When time permits, he picks up assignments through JetPro Trip and is delighted with the arrangement.

“I’ve had a very good experience with them,” he says of JetPro. “They’re great to work with, and have an easy process setting you up with clients then taking care of the pay and the scheduling.”

Jamie spent his childhood in the Wimbledon area of greater London, so it’s no surprise that he was a tennis player when his family moved to Florida in 1999. He met his wife-to-be, Kirsten, in the Sunshine State and his work took him west, with several stops along the way as an instructor, a trainer in flight simulators, and a pilot — initially in a Cessna 340, then moving on to Lears and then to the Gulfstream 550s and 650s he handles today for many of his JetPro assignments.

The Reddings are settled on the California coast. Jamie’s first job there was in San Jose, he and Kirsten were wed in scenic Big Sur and, with their three sons, have put down roots in nearby Monterey — a tourist mecca that might be to golf what Wimbledon is to tennis.

“I have not learned how to play golf,” Jamie laughed, adding, with a nod toward nearby Pebble Beach, that his time aloft has taught him there are always new things to learn. 

“I’ve carried on, and now I have more than 8,500 hours,” he said of his rewarding career in private aviation. “Doing this humbles you every time you have a flight. So I’m sure that as soon as I get to that 10,000 mark, I’ll be feeling even more humble.”