Larry Gross
Larry Gross was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana in 1946. He spent his childhood on a working farm in Tippecanoe County just 20 miles from the Purdue University Airport in West Lafayette where he would earn his wings.
A remarkable aviation career was sparked by a high school English class assignment to write a research paper on a career in which the students was interested. Larry chose Professional Pilot for his topic, and the rest, as they say, is history.
He first flew in a Cessna 150 in June 1965 followed by his first solo in that same aircraft on August 16th. Before Larry could complete his private pilot training though, he received a call that he had been admitted to the Aviation Flight Program at Purdue University, launching a 54-year career with the university.
Larry finally earned his private pilot certificate with Purdue on September 20, 1965. He would go on to excel in the flight program, earning his Flight Instructor certificate in August 1967 after which he immediately began teaching Purdue students to fly.
At that time, Purdue University operated Purdue Airlines as a Part 121 air carrier which operated three DC-6 aircraft and four of the venerable DC-3 aircraft which select professional pilot students could fly. Larry took advantage of the opportunity and began flying as a DC-3 co-pilot at the age of 21! His first flight was West Lafayette to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on August 16, 1968. During his senior year, he would accumulate some 120 hours in the DC-3 with flights to Colorado Springs, Chicago, New Orleans and many others.
At the end of his Senior year, Larry took advantage of another unique opportunity to earn his multi-engine rating AND DC-3 type rating in the same FAA check ride. He then joined Purdue as at the end of his undergraduate days as full-time Purdue flight instructor.
Larry took a short break from Purdue to pursue airline flying when he joined Ozark Airlines in December 1974 as a Fairchild F-227 co-pilot. His time away from the university was short-lived, however, when economic conditions resulted in a lay-off from the airline.
As with all good pilots, Larry continued to learn, earning a Master’s Degree in Counseling while working his way up the academic ladder, first as an instructor, then as an assistant professor, and later associate professor. At the university he taught numerous aviation classes, including the mountain flying course based in Laramie, Wyoming with flights to high-altitude airports including Jackson Hole, Wyoming , Steamboat Springs, and Aspen Colorado.
His work at Purdue would include Director of flight training in the school of aviation technology for 17 years, while also serving a member of the Purdue Senate, and chairing
many college committees. Always the volunteer, Larry was the faculty coach for the successful Purdue Flight Team as well as a director of the University Aviation Association. His awards and honors include his inclusion in Purdue’s ‘Book of Great Teachers,” the coveted Dwyer Award for outstanding undergraduate teaching in the College of Technology and the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. Larry retired from teaching not too long ago as Professor Emeritus.
Larry has left, and continues to leave, a lasting mark on Indian Aviation history. In 1973, Professor Gross was appointed as an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, launching a 43-year journey that he continues today–even in retirement– as the longest-serving pilot examiner in Indiana and one of the longest serving in the nation. Larry has administered over 7,100 check rides to future aviators. A testament to his lifelong contribution to aviation history are the thousands of professional pilots around the world who acknowledge that they would not be where they today are without the guidance, skill, and wisdom of Larry Gross.