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and flying it for a while, “life got busy, and I stopped flying.” While continually thinking about ways to get back into aviation, Mr. Ruz spent twenty years out of the cockpit. He explained that a meeting in 2019, five and a half hours from his house, was the catalyst for returning to the air. His neighbor had a Mooney and reintroduced him to general aviation, emphasizing the time savings of own-
ing an aircraft.
“I was then off to the races. I got current again and then
bought an Archer. I got my IFR rating in California, where I did a condensed two-week course. That was some of the best training I ever had because I was in the soup every morning, in real IMC conditions.”
Mr. Ruz continued to set his eyes on the next step in his aviation journey, asking himself, “What is the next step up? What should I buy?” A direction would soon become apparent.
“Then I sold half of my company to private equity in 2019 and started talking to Dick Rochfort about which plane I should buy next. He said that I should buy a turbine. I told him he was out of his mind, questioning going from a fixed-gear low-wing to a turbine aircraft. I spoke to a few other people who said he was right and that flying a turbine aircraft is much easier. So, I went for a demo flight in a Piper M500, fell in love with the plane, and acquired an M600.”
The cockpit of the Phenom 100, sporting a G3000 avionics system. Due to Mr. Ruz’s previous Garmin experiences, he stated that moving into the Phenom 100’s G3000 avionics system was seamless and never felt “behind”
a testing center. They asked me to build their [IT] infrastructure, so I did. One day I went by to pick up a check and met with the owner. A fam- ily was returning from the Bahamas in a Cherokee Six, and I commented how cool it was.”
“So, he said, ‘Why don’t you go up with one of our instructors? Take a ride!’ I said that he was out of his mind. But I went up for an intro flight and logged the time. I was not impressed. That was it for me that day, but I kept my logbook in my car and kept going back there to do work.”
Mr. Ruz ultimately changed his mind about flying when the same flight school owner later asked if he would like to go to the Bahamas for a weekend in the Cherokee Six. He says that experience made him fall in love with aviation and he quickly earned his private pilot certificate af- ter the trip. However, after acquiring a Cessna Cardinal with three partners
Gabriel Ruz, Jr. in front of his 2012 Phenom 100 that he purchased in early 2023
July 2023 / TWIN & TURBINE • 13