Gary Beck

Gary Beck is in charge of Alaska Airlines’ flight operations, including overseeing the carrier’s pilots, pilot training, crew scheduling, load planning, compliance and development programs. He joined the company in January 2008 as a 34-year veteran of the airline industry with more than 15,000 flight hours.

Snapshot

Hometown: Glendale, Calif. First job as a kid: Paperboy Comic book character he’d most like to be: Superman, of course, because he can fly whenever he wants Favorite vacation spot: Lanai, Hawaii Favorite food: Mexican Least favorite household chore: Raking leaves Hobbies: Sailing and golf Music preference: Jazz Favorite season : Summer — so I can sail and play golf Pets: Three rescue dogs: Max, Lilly and Abbey

As a former senior vice president of flight operations and chief pilot for Delta Air Lines, he was responsible for 2,000 daily departures and 8,500 pilots at six bases. Beck also headed the company’s pilot training facility.

A captain on the Boeing 727, 757 and 767, he also served as director of flight operations, general manager of flight operations, general manager of domestic operations and chief pilot at Delta’s Los Angeles pilot base.

Beck also worked in flight operations for Western Airlines and flew as a first officer for Ozark Air Lines.

Beck studied aerospace engineering at Central Texas College and business administration at Northern Illinois University. He holds an executive management certificate from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).