Thomas Remo’s career trajectory is an unlikely fusion of two vastly different worlds—music production and high-altitude aviation.

The entrepreneur-turned-pilot and social media creator didn’t follow a traditional path to the flight deck of a Gulfstream charter jet. Instead, he built a bridge between a Southern California recording studio and the global travel demands of the artists who worked there.

Today, Remo manages transportation for world-touring musicians Post Malone, Fuerza Regida, and more.

His story is one of seizing opportunities, from automating a business to create free time to answering a fateful phone call that would put him in the pilot’s seat for one of music’s biggest stars.

But before Remo would become a pilot or producer, he was just a kid with a passion for flight.

Fascination With Flying

Remo’s interest with aviation began in childhood, long before he ever considered pursuing a career in it. Although he had no pilots in his family, his interest was fueled by family trips aboard various airlines in the 1980s.

“One of my earliest memories is being on a plane and going to Hawaii,” he told FLYING.

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Pilots of that flight, impressed by the spry 4-year-old’s vocabulary for words like “turbines and tarmac,” let him sit in the cockpit for the ride.

Despite this early passion, flight lessons were never on the radar. Instead, Remo entered the music industry, working his way up from a porter to eventually owning one of Southern California’s largest recording studios.

He found success by automating the studio, allowing record labels and their artists 24-hour key-card access to write and develop albums without requiring additional manpower. This innovation, coupled with some new long-term contracts, provided him with a significant income—and a new problem.

“I’m at the second point in my life where I have a very significant sum of money,” Remo said. “And now once again I have nothing to do.”

After securing his finances with investment properties, he decided to act on his childhood interest.

“I was like, OK, this is not productive,” he said. “I’m gonna go take a discovery flight.”

One flying lesson later, he was hooked. Remo bought a 1966 Piper Cherokee on eBay and continued learning to fly recreationally. Owning a jet helped bring him into a new social circle where he befriended other aircraft owners and charter company operators.

That’s when Remo realized the perfect nexus between his two worlds.

“My primary business is [with] people [where] all they do is charter jets to go places,” he said about his recording studio business. “This artist needs to go here, and [now] I got a guy that owns a charter company…I would [add a fee] on top of it. Next thing you know, I’m a charter broker.”

Little did Remo know this accidental side job would become a third career, funding his personal passion for flying and allowing him to upgrade his own aircraft from the vintage Cherokee to a faster Twin Comanche and eventually a modern, safer Cirrus.

Becoming a Charter Pilot

While brokering charters was lucrative, Remo had never been paid to actually fly an airplane himself. That changed when a friend who owned a charter company offered him a job flying Gulfstream jets for a government contractor.

There was a catch, though: Remo had to pay for his own training and become certificated.

Seizing the moment, Remo hit the books and took to the sky practicing to fast-track his certifications.

“I did that all in about three months,” he said. “…I didn’t have a choice, and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity.”

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For the next three years, he flew for the State Department, Department of Justice, and Department of Defense, gaining what he described as “insane amounts of international experience” flying in and out of war zones and remote military bases across 75 different countries.

This grueling but invaluable experience set the stage for the opportunity of a lifetime.

After a 30-day rotation in Africa, an exhausted Remo received a call from a friend who was a pilot for pro boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.. He said that American rapper Post Malone’s team had just bought a Gulfstream and needed a pilot to fly it from Florida to California.

Remo initially refused, but they kept calling, and eventually offered him three times his normal day rate. Worn out but motivated, Remo agreed to travel to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (KOPF) and pick up the aircraft. That single flight turned into a permanent job offer.

After finishing up the remaining time flying on his government contract, Remo began flying for Post Malone full time. Before long he was managing the entire aircraft operation for music tours around the world. It was a steep learning curve, but Remo said his contacts in the industry helped advise him along the way.

Then the role exploded. Through word-of-mouth recommendations from Post Malone, Remo began managing jets for a growing roster of celebrity clients.

He said his success came from being able to connect with his clients on a personal level, something he believes traditional management companies sometimes lack.

Motivating the Next generation of Pilots

With his unique career established, friends in the media space encouraged Remo to share his story on social media. He was hesitant at first but saw an opportunity to inspire a new generation of aviators.

That’s when he launched his YouTube channel, “Gear Down.”

“My biggest mission right now is to show these kids that you don’t have to take the traditional path,” he said. “You don’t have to go to the airlines.”

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Through the channel, Remo tries to highlight the diverse, unconventional, and lucrative opportunities that exist in private aviation to his nearly 60,000 subscribers.

Remo also uses the platform to give back to the community that has given him so much, opting to reinvest all of the money the channel generates back into the industry.

“I take every penny that I have to make off of YouTube, and I give it away,” he said. “I give it away to student pilots, kids that are learning.”

Additionally, Remo self-funds a $20,000 annual scholarship and frequently visits flight schools at smaller airports to help pay for students’ lessons for the day.

The channel’s popularity has also led to a television show currently in development, which he describes as a cross between Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and Insomniac with Dave Attell with a focus on the nightlife and behind-the-scenes lifestyle of traveling with global music acts.

The show aims to give the public a point of view it would never otherwise see, from landing a private jet to a helicopter transfer and backstage at a sold-out Madison Square Garden show.

For his philanthropic and content creation efforts, Remo credits sponsors like Avidyne for helping him make it happen. He will also be serving as the ambassador for this year’s Pacific Airshow in Huntington Beach, California, on October 3-5, where he plans to host meet-and-greets and autograph signings.