Wally Obermeyer with his PC-12 at the time of purchase
Wally Obermeyer is an ATP-rated pilot and Pilatus owner from Aspen, Colorado, who has logged more than 4,000 hours in the cockpit. Obermeyer is the president of Obermeyer Wood Investment Council, an investment management firm with roughly two billion dollars under management. He is also vice-chairman of the Obermeyer skiwear company his 104-year-old father, Klaus, founded in 1947.
Obermeyer presently flies a 2011 PC-12 NG for both business and leisure. His busy schedule takes him across the state of Colorado, as well as occasionally to each of the coasts – and as far as Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Considering the mix of short- and long-range missions, as well as varied payload needs and his love for Swiss culture, Obermeyer stated that the PC-12 is his dream airplane.
“With the Pilatus, I feel like I have arrived. Every time I approach the plane, even almost five years after purchase, I’m just as happy as when I first got the keys. I am a happy camper,” he stated.
Owning a PC-12 is the pinnacle of Obermeyer’s aviation journey, which began in 1978. Just like the indelible mark that Klaus left on him in the business world, he has his dad to thank for his foray into the cockpit. As Obermeyer’s business demands and mission profile changed, so did the aircraft he owned. Prior to purchasing his PC-12 in June of 2019, he had flown a TBM700, a Cessna 414 with a RAM VI conversion, and a Cessna P210.
“The TBM was a great machine, and I think it was a nice progression, too, from the 414. The TBM was also newer than my 1976 Cessna. You have more things that break as airplanes age, so the reliability of a newer plane makes a big difference. Also, the TBM was a game-changer with the increased speed, the reliability of its turbine power, the ability to go up to 28,000 feet and to have better de-ice systems.”
Obermeyer contends that moving into the PC-12 was another big jump in his ownership journey.
“With the Pilatus, considerations for buying it over other aircraft or staying in the TBM 700 included the greater redundancy of the dual electrical systems and the dual FMS systems on the left and right side. It also has a bathroom, a wider cabin, and greater carrying capacity,” he stated before noting that fuel capacity was another crucial consideration of his. Also helping to justify the higher price was the historically lower depreciation of the Pilatus versus TBMs.
“I remember a flight in the TBM out to northern California with bad weather. You really stress on the fuel planning. Well, how many missed approaches can you shoot in Napa and still make it back to Reno? It gets pretty tight. In the Pilatus, it’s a piece of cake. I’ve gone from Tucson with three passengers to Jacksonville with no stops and an hour and a half of extra fuel. The airplane has amazing range.”
Obermeyer said that his life would look significantly different if it weren’t for aviation. Take, for example, two of his most frequent flights, one to the site of a longtime renewable energy project of his in southwestern Colorado and the other to the Obermeyer Wood satellite office in the state’s capital city. Collectively, these route pairs make up more than 75% of the Coloradan’s missions.
“I feel blessed to live in the Rocky Mountains. It’s literally God’s country. Aspen is a beautiful area to get out and fly.”
“I have a hydroelectric project in Durango that, in the summer, produces power for about 5,000 homes. And the drive from Aspen, just because it’s so mountainous, is about six hours. Whereas when flying, you can cut that by 80% or more. It’s about a 30-minute flight to Denver. The ability to get around more fluently is a huge thing for me.”
Centennial Airport serves as a convenient second base not only for visiting his investment firm’s second office in Cherry Creek but for training at FlightSafety as well.
“If airline pilots train twice a year, and they’re flying many more hours than we are, it makes sense for us to continue training as much as possible. If a person is going to fly a high-performance plane, they will need to spend a lot of time to be safe in it. They should be spending a lot of time developing and maintaining a high level of competency,” he prefaced.
“I endeavor to train two or three times a year. One time is always at FlightSafety, and I’m really lucky that they have a PC-12 NG simulator in Denver. I also like to do thorough in-aircraft training once a year, and I keep flashcards that I use to stay current with the numbers. It is amazing how those little things help.”
He is keen to focus not only on the stick and rudder portion of flying but also on the systems of his aircraft – especially the avionics. Obermeyer contends that gaining an advanced understanding of the Honeywell Apex system has been beneficial for him as a PC-12 owner, as has flying with others and learning from them. He said that he aims to fly with pilots who have different skill sets and backgrounds. He recently flew with a local Part 135 PC-12 pilot on the way to a Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Omaha. He learned a lot during that flight, he said.
Obermeyer has recently joined the board of the Pilatus Owners & Pilots Association (POPA) and appreciates and respects the organization’s focus on safety.
“One project that POPA is working on is creating a series of videos that are being shot within the simulator. They show a pilot under a particular emergency situation, a trim runaway, or some failure and response and demonstrate how we, as normal pilots, might (likely incorrectly) respond. The videos then show an instructor going through the same situation, discussing the common mistakes and demonstrating the correct actions – per the emergency procedures and the POH.”
“I am also a member of Pitkin County/Aspen Airport Safety Committee. I have learned a ton from the other members, sharing experiences with them. We are working on creating a website that gives people access to a variety of information that we believe will be helpful for pilots flying in and out of Aspen. A big issue is that because of the mountainous terrain, Aspen has steep approaches with multiple step-downs. We are encouraging the FAA and private designers to develop newer, more stabilized approaches into Aspen as well as looking at some longer-term considerations that we think will add to ease and safety [flying into KASE].”
When not flying the PC-12, which he flies roughly 120 hours per year, Obermeyer can be found behind the yoke of a 1968 Cessna 180H with an IO-550 conversion. This aircraft provides the ability to see some of America’s most stunning landscapes from a different vantage point.
“I feel blessed to live in the Rocky Mountains. It’s literally God’s country. Aspen is a beautiful area to get out and fly,” he concluded.
