LYNN GARDNER

Vice President of Appreciation

Former RAF Florida Ambassador Lynn Gardner moved to South Carolina, but she’s not leaving her commitment to the RAF mission. Lynn is stepping into the important role of VP of Appreciation.

Lynn grew up in aviation. Her father was a Piper dealer and ran the FBO at the Bay Bridge Airport in Maine before moving his sales operation to Sanford, FL. Lynn earned her Air Commerce and Fight Technology degree in 1981 from Florida Institute of Technology. She worked as a flight instructor, powerline pilot, fish spotter for US Fish and Wildlife, aerial photographer for the USDA, “and ferried a lot of airplanes for my dad and friends in the airplane business,” she added. 

In 1989 she began flying for Bar Harbor Airways, then flew nine years with US Airways Express, all in the Beech 1900. She became a Netjets pilot in 2000 flying many aircraft, including the Citation XL, X, Latitude, Falcon 2000, and the Phenom 300. 

Losing her first class medical didn’t keep her on the ground, and she took up light sport aircraft. “STOL and backcountry aircraft have always been my passion, so in 2007 I built a Just Aircraft Highlander and flew it from Florida to Idaho,” she said, adding, ”The airplanes are gone now, but my passion for the backcountry still remains.”