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USCG Commanding Officer Keith Thomas.
Keith Thomas, commanding officer of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station (CGAS) Washington, pilots the service’s two Gulfstream C-37Bs (G550s), transporting senior Coast Guard officers and the secretary and deputy of the Department of Homeland Security. He previously amassed considerable rotary-wing experience, including serving on the 24/7 presidential aide detail.
What does your current job as a commanding officer of CGAS Washington involve?
CGAS is based at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). We have about 38 people: seven pilots and then the rest are maintainers-slash-flyers—people that are fixers but also fly in a jet as well. We fly with a pool of four: two pilots, a flight engineer and a comms suite director. We have secure communications onboard the aircraft that allow our principals to talk to anyone in the national command structure, at any time, securely. We fly six principals [including] the commandant of the Coast Guard, the secretary of homeland security, the deputy secretary of homeland security and the vice-commandant of the Coast Guard.
How is the team set up at DCA, and how long are the tours of duty?
The commander and the deputy—the executive officer—come in for three years each. The other five pilots are on four-year tours, and the air crew—the folks that fix and fly as crewmembers on the aircraft—do five years.
Our pilots get a 61.58 FAA check ride every six months. We take a lot of pride in the fact that we do the check in the sim with FAA-rated instructors who are not us. I like that because we get a look from someone else. The seven of us fly together quite a bit and we start developing the same habits, patterns, norms—and having someone from the outside with a different perspective watch us, evaluate us and give us feedback is the most eye-opening thing in the world.
What are the main differences between standard military flying and the military-operated VIP service you currently carry out?
We have a very specific mission set in the military and we typically stick to that. But this mission is not just moving the plane from point A to point B—I also have to deal with customer service.
I’ve never had to think about that before. It’s not just making sure that they’re getting places they need to go on time—the service, the food service, the condition of the aircraft has to be perfect for them, because I want people to feel like this is their home away from home when they’re in the aircraft and they can refresh and recharge and we can get them wherever they’ve got to go.
Did you find any particular challenges in working for U.S. presidents?
When I commissioned in 2003, my first president was President George W. Bush and then Barack Obama; then Donald Trump after that and now Joe Biden. As a military officer I serve at the pleasure of the president, so ... my job is apolitical: It has nothing to do with whether I’m a Democrat or a Republican or whether the president is a Democrat or a Republican. You’re there to do a job to make sure that if that bad day happens you can execute that mission. But on a normal basis, we’re also going to make sure that all the things that need to happen in and out of the White House happen so the president can continue to do his role as the chief executive, commander-in-chief and head of state.
Do you intend to stay with business jets, or are you looking for a role which will keep you in the kind of demanding helicopter flying you got into the Coast Guard to do?
I really do enjoy the business jet world. I have friends that have been military pilots, airline pilots, business jet pilots—and the folks that I talk to that still like to relate to the mission a little bit more are the business jet pilots. I think what really relates to me is the thing on the operation: I still plan the mission—I still get to go out and make sure that everything’s good to go. Having never been an airline pilot, I can’t speak as a subject-matter expert, but I think it’s a little bit more vanilla—as far as, someone’s giving you the flight plan, someone’s giving you the weather. I still enjoy, as a pilot, going out and researching it on my own. I figure out my route, I figure out my plan of action, and the plane is mine all day. I do enjoy that a lot. So, I think I’m going to stick with this. There are some opportunities out there for certain flight departments that have both helicopters and business jets. So, if that kind of opportunity ever arises, I would definitely jump at it.
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