CAPTAIN BARRY SCHIFF

With 28,000 hours logged in 355 types of aircraft (including the Lockheed U-2 and the Boeing B-52), Barry Schiff has received worldwide recognition for his wide-ranging aeronautical accomplishments. He was a rated Airline Transport Pilot at 21 and has earned every FAA category and class rating (except airship) and every possible instructor rating. Capt. Schiff retired from Trans World Airlines in 1998 after a 34-year career during which he flew everything from the Lockheed Constellation to the Boeing 747 and was a check captain on the Boeing 767. He holds five world speed records (one captured from the Soviet Union) and has received numerous honors for his many contributions to aviation safety. These include a Congressional Commendation, the Louis Bleriot Air Medal (France), and Switzerland’s Gold Proficiency Medal, an honorary doctorate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, AOPA’s L.P. Sharples Perpetual Award, and induction into the National Flight Instructor’s Hall of Fame. In 2012 he was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation.

An award-winning journalist and author, he is well known to flying audiences for his numerous books and more than 1,700 articles published in 111 aviation magazines, notably AOPA Pilot for which he has been writing for over 50 years. Many of his articles discuss personally developed concepts, procedures, and techniques that have received international acclaim. Schiff also developed and worked to have adopted the concept of providing general aviation pilots with safe VFR routes through high-density airspace. In 1995 and with the personal approvals of Jordanian King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin, Schiff contributed to the Middle East peace process by leading a formation of 35 airplanes carrying 135 Americans, Israelis, and Jordanians from Jerusalem to Amman. As a result, he became the first pilot ever allowed to fly between those countries.