Eric hails from a small town east of Knoxville Tennessee. Eric is a graduate of East Tennessee State University where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree (BBA). After college, he worked in the retail industry first in store operations management and then later, as a corporate buyer. In 2000, he left retail to pursue his life-long dream of becoming a professional pilot. Eric and is his spouse Terri relocated to Naples, FL where he completed professional flight training. He earned both a Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor certificate and later, taught as a flight instructor and started his own aviation business. Eric currently holds an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate with a PIC type rating in the Embraer Phenom 300.As the aviation industry was changing post-911, Eric experienced an unexpected vocational calling. Eric discerned a vocation as an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. He graduated from The University of the South (Sewanee) with a Masters of Divinity degree (MDiv), ordained deacon in 2009 and priest in 2010, and served for over a decade in parish and diocesan ministry. Eric retired from active ministry after serving as Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Oklahoma. Over the last several years, Eric has served as a volunteer military chaplain in Civil Air Patrol (USAF Auxiliary) and holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Eric finally achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a professional pilot in 2022 and now holds an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate with PIC type rating in the Embraer Phenom 300, a small nine passenger jet. Eric flies full-time as a Captain for an on-demand carrier based in Naples, FL. Terri and Eric now reside in their home state of Florida. Read more about this authorRead less about this author