Michel Gordillo

Michel Gordillo, born on 2 May 1955 as Miguel Ángel Gordillo Urquia in French Cameroun at Douala near the volcano Mount Cameroon, and lived there until the age of seven. The family moved to the capital, Yaoundé, during the independence movement of Cameroon. In 1967, the family moved to Cannes, France, and then to Madrid, Spain. After he completed the Baccalaureate, he entered the Spanish Air Force Academy selection group after passing a public examination. At present, Gordillo is retired and lives with his family in Spain.

He gained admission to the Spanish Air Force to train to be a future pilot. At San Javier in Murcia, Spain, he went through military training and after two years started flight training. The first aircraft was a Beechcraft T-34 Mentor, and he flew solo and also received aerobatics training. He flew Beechcraft Bonanza planes and received navigation training (both visual and radio navigation). During his last year at the Academia General del Aire (AGA), he received advanced flight training with T-6 Texan aircraft. Gordillo completed flight training that included formation flying, aerobatics, combat flying and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flying. He received the fighter pilot aptitude, but took slot 20 of 24 and the fighter school only took the first 18 slots. Next came IFR multiengine training for one year at Salamanca where he flew the Spanish designed CASA C-212 Aviocar airplane. Gordillo was then assigned to the P3 Orion anti-submarine warfare aircraft. (Note: in Spain the P-3 Orion is assigned to the Air Force, not the Navy.) He became a fighter pilot, but was assigned as a ship and submarine fighter pilot. He flew the P-3 for seven years and became a crew leader. This is where he learned the challenges of locating someone in the water, as he also served in search and rescue aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft capacities. This experience would later serve him for his long distance oceanic flights. While assigned to the P-3 squadron, Gordillo received orders for one year to attend undergraduate and advanced navigator training with the U.S. Air Force at Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento, California. After his P-3 Orion assignment, he was transferred to the 45th Air Force Group. The Group is responsible for transporting VIP people, like the King of Spain and his family, government ministers and dignitaries, and other government officials. Gordillo flew the Falcon 20 aircraft. Gordillo made the decision to retire rather than advance to major in the Air Force and receive an assignment as a desk jockey rather than a flight jockey.

In 1987, Gordillo went to work for Iberia Airlines and flew the DC-9, as copilot. Then he moved up to the MD-87 aircraft for Iberia and was trained at Los Angeles. Next came long range aircraft, the four engine Airbus A340 for flights from Miami. In 1998, he was promoted to captain, and assigned to fly the twin engine Airbus A320, and later, Airbus A319 and Airbus A321. Gordillo retired at the age of 58.

On 5 January 2006, acting as captain of Flight 161 of Iberia Airlines, Gordillo refused to take off for safety and security reasons due to faulty fire detector that had not been repaired. This resulted in his termination. During the judicial proceedings that ensued, a hearing was held on 22 June 2006 and his dismissal was declared inadmissible. However, by 15 November 2006, Gordillo was not reinstated to Iberia Airlines.^[1]

As a boy, Gordillo was given a control line Air Cobra airplane, with a .049 engine. Unfortunately, he was never able to start the engine. Gordillo bought his first magazine: Le modèle reduit d´avion, a model aircraft magazine. The magazine changed his life and set the course for his calling in life. The magazine remains in his possession. Gordillo developed an interest in model airplanes, first with U-Line models, with .15 engines (combat and aerobatics). He entered the Aeromodelling School. He moved on to free flight models. First gliders and then powered models called FAI F1C (International Aeronautics Federation: F1 stands for free flight and C fuel powered engines) He also flies F1B, rubber powered models. After he completed the Baccalaureate, he entered the Spanish Air Force Academy selection group after passing a public examination. Gordillo spent one year at Granada waiting for a chance to become an Air Force pilot.

While in the Spanish Air Force, Gordillo was able to attend glider school at Jerez. Gordillo received his initial glider instruction at Monflorite in Huesca, Spain. He flew the Blaník type glider for three or four flights and then upgraded to the Pirate type glider. For flight number 8 he flew for 5.5 hours and qualified for Silver C. On flight 9 he achieved Silver C distance and altitude and finally flew for flight number 10, to actually receive the C glider rating together with the Silver C glider rating, something that no one had ever achieved in Spain.

Ever since Gordillo was in the Air Force Academy, he wanted to build his own airplane. Not until he became a commercial airline pilot was Gordillo able to build his first real aircraft, the Denny Kitfox IV. The Kitfox was powered by an 80-horsepower (60 kW) Rotax 912. A good aircraft to fly slow and low. The next plane he built was a Dyn'Aéro MCR01 aircraft with a Rotax 912S engine. The most recent aircraft built was a Van's Aircraft RV-8.