Jared and Kurt are both involved in aerial firefighting — Jared as pilot of an Avro RJ85 jet for Aeroflite Aerial Firefighting, and Kurt at the Prescott air tanker base. In 2020, during the raging wildfire season on the U.S. west coast, Kurt also took time off from his day job as assistant director of admissions at Embry-Riddle, to fight wildfires on the ground.

We talked the ins and outs of aerial firefighting; their history with Embry-Riddle’s flight program and legendary instructor Dick Samuels; and the competitive success of Prescott’s Golden Eagles Flight Team, where Jared served as head coach for 7 years.

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