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part of me and does everything ef- fortlessly. I can put it into thirty-knot direct crosswinds like it’s nothing. I’m sweating a little over here, but the plane is just knocking it out like it’s not a big deal. The side stick makes it feel like the plane is a part of you.”
He stated that ground-bound wheeled vehicles were the real reason why he decided to become a pilot in the first place.
“I started flying in 2017. I lived in Breckenridge, Colorado, so the closest airport to me was Eagle [County Regional Airport, KEGE]. At the time, I was going down to the dunes in California a lot during the winter. We drove our 45-foot motorhome, pull- ing a big stacker trailer behind it. The wintertime in the Rocky Mountains is unforgiving, so we constantly drove through blizzards. I decided that after too many crazy instances with the weather, it might be better to fly back and forth and leave our stuff there. I had always wanted to fly anyway, and I originally wanted to fly fighter jets as a teenager.”
Georgalos would not go to the Air Force or the Navy; instead, he focused on several entrepreneurial endeavors while still a teenager. His business successes allowed him to pursue his dream of learning to fly, albeit as a civilian.
“I completed my private pilot li- cense eight or nine weeks after starting flight lessons and got an A36 Bonanza the next day. The insurance company didn’t like that too much. They said jumping from an Archer to a high- performance, complex aircraft was too big of a jump. I did fifty hours of dual instruction in the Bonanza be- fore soloing. I flew with my instructor for a week and then to Florida from Colorado. After getting signed off, I f lew to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with my friends the next day. I used that plane for around two and a half years and racked up 450 hours of total time.”
“I then bought a Malibu Matrix, the unpressurized version of the Mirage. I got a sweet deal on it, and the guys selling it were giving it away about a hundred grand less than it was worth. I took that deal as it was a no-brainer. I bought it in cash but decided that I
In addition to his Eclipse, Georgalos has an enviable collection of sports cars.
Georgalos’ Eclipse 500, flanked by two Lamborghinis in his hangar.
wanted to get my money back out of it. So, I called a finance company and said I wanted to refinance. They said no problem, but after going through the process, they approved financing for two million dollars. I only wanted to refinance for a few hundred grand, but they said they couldn’t. Maybe they misunderstood, ‘But you are approved to buy something else if you want!’ they told me.”
The wheels started turning once Damon learned that he could get significantly more airplane than he was looking for.
“I was like, ‘shoot. Okay!’ My buddy had an Epic, so I considered that as an
option. But insurance would prefer something other than an experimental aircraft, coupled with my f light time. I started looking at a Meridian and was about to close on a 2013 model. It was pretty pricey, so I reconsidered.”
Spoiler alert: Georgalos ultimately settled on an Eclipse 500. But several naysayers said the aircraft wasn’t the best fit for his mission. He couldn’t be talked out of the model, though, especially as he began doing tai- lored research into the plane and its capabilities.
“I had thought about this jet, but people always tried talking me out of it. Things like, ‘It’s not a good air-
October 2023 / TWIN & TURBINE • 23