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Owner’s
Mark Greksa
Corner
Mark Greksa’s 2023 Pilatus PC-12 NGX on the ramp at Durango-La Plata County Airport (KDRO)
The first full-scale powered locomotive was operated in 1804, nearly a century before the Wright Brothers took to the sky for the first time. Aircraft have since become the mainstream platform for moving people from Point A to Point B. But trains, of course, still have their unique utility and are relied on to transport goods and people across the country.
Mark Greksa, a Pilatus PC-12 NGX owner from Dillon, Colorado, has been in the tourist railroad industry for two and a half decades. As owner of the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, he and his staff provide hundreds of thousands of people with a unique
24 • TWIN & TURBINE / October 2024
perspective of the Colorado Rockies from an unparalleled vantage point each year.
Aviation has been integral in ensuring Greksa’s team provides the world-renowned experience guests have come to expect on the Royal Gorge Railroad.
“Everything we do with the PC- 12 is to help grow the business. We are in the tourist railroad industry, which a very small group of people are involved in, and our focus is on hospitality. We fly everywhere to get different ideas for the business, whether it’s customer service, food, or beverage. My staff and I will fly to different conventions, or we’ll go
to California to visit wineries and bring ideas and wine back with us to the train.”
Greksa’s interest in aviation predates his profession as a proprietor of one of the nation’s few scenic railway experiences.
“Airplanes always intrigued me, and I took an Intro to Aviation course in my senior year of high school. The instructor could fill the classroom with her enthusiasm for aviation, so that jazzed me about someday learning to fly. But it wasn’t until 18 years later, as a Father’s Day gift, that I took a discovery flight at Denver Centennial (KAPA),” he said.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARK GREKSA