From the Flight Deck

Shoreline Aviation Director of Operations P.J. Flanagan earned his pilot’s license at 21 years old. Now, 16,000 hours-worth of flying time later, he sees his principal role in aviation as that of mentor to today’s younger pilots. And he’s still racking up flying hours.

The husband, father and grandfather flew with Delta Air Lines for 24 years, nearly five of those as chief pilot. He flew Boeing, Airbus and McDonnell Douglas jets of all sizes to destinations across Europe and Asia. He says flying former President Jimmy and First Lady Rosalynn Carter ranks high among his many memorable career moments.

Upon retiring from Delta in 2020, P.J. renovated his and wife Doris’ home on Massachusetts’ South Shore. But then he got antsy and needed to get back into the captain’s seat.

At Shoreline, he happily accommodates passengers on business jets. He sees his biggest value in using his extensive experience to help pilots learn to step up and achieve certification to fly business jets in the charter world.

“I’m really looking forward to mentoring younger pilots through their profession,” he says, “and helping to use the many tools we learned at a large airline to operate planes safely in a complicated environment.”