Advisory Council Member, Author & Expert

Al Gorthy

Captain

USN Retired

Al has built a solid reputation of success in executive leadership positions in both the public and private sectors. His military background includes twenty-six years of active duty service in the US Navy where he flew as an operational pilot in numerous single seat attack and fighter aircraft, including the F/A-18 Hornet. He made combat deployments during the Vietnam conflict and served on eight different aircraft carriers.

Al commanded several operational squadrons including a carrier based F/A-18 squadron, the Navy’s ‘Top Gun’ Adversary Squadron and the west coast F/A-18 Fleet Replacement Squadron. He was Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations for Battle Force Seventh Fleet during the end of the First Gulf War. Al retired from active duty as the Commanding Officer of Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. His passion for command excellence earned him the prestigious and coveted VADM James B. Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership.

Prior to joining the Federal Aviation Administration, Al served for three years as Vice President of Maintenance for a small low-cost, low-fare airline based in Kansas City, Missouri. The air carrier operated leased 737 aircraft.

For over ten years, Al worked in the Office of Runway Safety for the FAA and is considered a subject matter expert on runway incursions and excursions. He worked closely with Air Traffic Control, regional airports and Flight Standards Division on critical issues affecting surface safety. Al retired from the Federal Aviation Administration in April of 2015.

Over the past several years Al has spoken to thousands of private, corporate and commercial pilots and aviation professionals on matters of human error in aviation. He has been the keynote speaker at the 2014 Air Charter Safety Symposium as well as the 2015 Bombardier Safety Standdown. Al has conducted numerous presentations and workshops for Cessna, Bombardier, Textron, Garmin, Honeywell, US Navy, Flight Safety International and numerous local NBAA chapters. Al’s presentations and comments have been featured in several online business aviation publications and webcasts.

He holds a FAA Airline Transport Pilot certificate and has accumulated over 5000 flight hours and 600 carrier landings. Al earned a BS in Biology and a MS in Human Resources.

Al is currently President of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) Foundation, serves as a Board Member of the Heart of America Patriot Foundation and is past President of the Missouri/Kansas Association of Naval Aviation.