Gulfstream Pilot – Utah

Rob McDonald was too young to get a learner’s permit to drive a car when he had already made up his mind he wanted to fly airplanes. He charted a course for success, and he’s doing some of that flying these days with JetPro Pilots.

McDonald has been a flight instructor, airline pilot, corporate pilot and now also a contract pilot, picking up occasional assignments through JetPro. It’s an ideal arrangement for someone who’s as at home in the air as he is with his family on the ground.

“I’ve always lived here,” he says of home base, American Fork, Utah. “Miraculously, aviation has never required me to move — with the exception of maybe my first month at Skywest Airlines, where I was based in Fresno, Calif. But I just commuted to that, so I’ve never actually had to move in aviation.”

Though McDonald hails from American Fork, he caught the aviation bug halfway across the globe.

“I think it was in my junior-high years when my family took a trip to China, Korea, and Hong Kong,” he recalls. “I was just fascinated with aviation the whole time on the airplane, got back from that trip and just kept up a constant interest in aviation from then on. I graduated high school on a Thursday, then jumped into flight school the following Tuesday, at Utah Valley University in Provo. And I’ve never looked back.”

An internship led to his first job out of college, with SkyWest. At age 30, he began exploring the world of corporate aviation.

“I spent 4 years with SkyWest and then a corporate opportunity was too good to pass up,” he says. “I was just doing these domestic hops, then all of a sudden I’m flying to Morocco and elsewhere overseas. I’ve now been to 50-plus countries.” 

He worked for a private employer for 13 years, flying a G350 then a G650. Opportunity called again, this time from a cryptocurrency gaming company with a G550 and a G650 in its fleet. But when the crypto downturn hit, the flight department was phased out.

“Some good friends and I were let go and I ended up on the street,” Rob says. “I didn’t know it at the time but it ended up being the best time in history to be an unemployed pilot. A good friend lined me up with some contract work and I stayed very busy!

“It wasn’t long before I did a trip for JetPro, and they started feeding me trips every so often. If it weren’t for me becoming unemployed, I never would have been exposed to or even really taken advantage of the services JetPro is able to offer.” 

Rob has a full-time corporate pilot position again. But in his time off, he works with JetPro clients.

“At the moment, I’m only flying G650s,” he explains. “With JetPro clients it’s longer trips — mostly international. They provide a great service for someone in my position,” he adds. “JetPro clients are extremely professional. JetPro has a fantastic app for the crew’s usage on trips. JetPro’s process for submitting for a trip to get paid is like nothing I’ve ever seen with any other contract group.”