Published in Midwest Flyer – August/September 2017 issue
MILWAUKEE, WIS. – After a 48-year career teaching flight instructor refresher courses, and graduating 19,000 certified flight instructors, the founder of Gaits Aviation Seminars, Greg Gorak, retired in March 2017.
Gorak holds an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate and has accumulated 8,600 hours. He was chairman of the Career Pilot Program at Gateway Technical Institute in Racine, Wis. for nine years and also taught for the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI). Gorak then founded Gaits Aviation Seminars, Inc. in 1977, and was on the Presenter’s Circuit for 49 years.
Gorak flew charter for seven years, accumulating thousands of hours in various turboprops including the Beechcraft King Air and Cessna Citation.
In his teaching role at Gaits, Gorak utilized his education in radio/television broadcasting from Marquette University, his graduate degree in Administration from the University of Wisconsin, and his background in acting and comic opera singing.
The Federal Aviation Administration named Gorak “Flight Instructor of the Year” for the United States in 1975. The National Association of Flight Instructors awarded him “Master Flight Instructor” status beginning in 1998. He received the “Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award” in 2012, and was inducted into the National Association of Instructors Hall of Fame in 2013, and the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame in 2015.
