Living Legends of Aviation: 23rd Celebration to Honor Astronaut, Pilot Musician, and Industry Titans

The term “living legend” is tossed around quite a bit in aviation, as the science and art of taking to the skies attracts the brightest and bravest entrepreneurs, innovators, and industry leaders who blaze new trails and break records.

This year, the class of 2025 inductees will be honored at the 23rd Living Legends of Aviation awards ceremony on January 26 at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Southern California.

The five honorees include an astronaut, a pilot musician, and aviation business notables.

Eileen Collins: Retired U.S. Air Force colonel

Collins is being honored for her role as the first woman pilot and commander of a NASA space shuttle.

She has logged over 6,751 hours in 30 aircraft and 872 hours in space. The former astronaut piloted four shuttle missions—among them were the 1999 deployment of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the 2005 “Return to Flight” mission.

Dan Drohan: Aviation entrepreneur

Drohan has had a lifelong passion for aviation. By the age of 17, he held a private pilot certificate and had flown multiple makes and models of aircraft.

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At 19, he launched Sunset Aviation, an aerial tour company that took visitors over the California wine country and San Francisco Bay Area. In 2009, with the support and help of his former team, he launched Solairus, a firm that manages business jets.

Today, Solairus operates one of the world’s largest fleets of managed business jets—over 350—and employs 2,000 aviation professionals.

Mark Burns: Gulfstream Aerospace

Burns has been with the company for 40 years. Through the decades, he has experienced nearly every facet of the business aviation industry from the ramp up.

In 2015 Burns was appointed president of Gulfstream. Since then, he has led the company through a period of significant investment in innovation and growth. Among the highlights are the introduction of a next-generation fleet of aircraft, as well as the expansion of manufacturing and support facilities, ensuring Gulfstream can support each aircraft and honor its commitment to service each aircraft for life.

Aaron Tippin: Musician/commercial pilot

While perhaps more widely known as a country music star, Tippin also holds a commercial pilot certificate with single- and multi-engine ratings and is an airframe and powerplant mechanic.

Tippin is a popular entertainer at aviation shows such as Sun ’’n Fun, and when he’s not on tour or in the studio recording, he may be at the airport.

He and his family own Tennessee Flying Machines at the Upper Cumberland Regional Airport (KSRB) in Sparta, Tennessee. The school offers flying lessons and aerial tours in a fleet of vintage aircraft, which include a pair of Fairchilds, a Funk, a North American SNJ-4, a PT-17, and a Piper J-3.

Doug King: Epic Aircraft

King, CEO of Epic Aircraft, is being honored for his work that led to the certification and launch of the E1000, E1000 GX, and E1000 AX, heralded as setting the new standard for composite design aircraft in speed and automation for single-engine turboprops.

King has built aircraft, flown test flights, and led a fleet of Epics on an around-the-world flight to demonstrate and prove their performance and reliability. He is also an adept entrepreneur, having experience in the software industry in payment processing, call center systems, and AI and automation in aviation.

Each year, previous Legends nominate and select inductees in the particular categories. The nomination forms are sent to all Living Legends of Aviation in July.