So in 1993 Norman bought the first of his many Gulfstream jets, a
G3. Norman now owns his fifth Gulfstream, a $42- million G550 that
he spends some 600 hours on each year clocking some 325,000 miles.
He is now anxiously awaiting his newest helicopter, the Bell 609, and
he has the No. 15 slot for the machine he describes as “an incredible
piece of equipment.”
“It’s flying 25,000 feet at 300 knots,” notes Norman, who has more
than 200 hours behind the stick of a helicopter. “When you study everything
that’s out there, it will blow everything out the door! I love
flying the helicopter because you’re using everything from your head
to your eyes. It’s much more of a feel and finesse experience than flying
jets, and that’s what flying is all about.”
Then again bursting the speed of sound with the Blue Angels off
the coast of Florida, dogfighting inside the fierce F-4 Phantom with
the Royal Air Force in Scotland, or taking off and landing F-14s off
the U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vincent in San Diego is quite memorable.
“There are people in the military who dream about some of the things
Norman’s done,” Maira says. “When people ask me how good a pilot
he is, it’s the same thing I told Bell—he’s been doing this for 14 to 15
years and flies as well as anybody.