Thirty-five years with a hand on the controls, and on both sides of the check ride.
History
A career in the cockpit and on the other side of the check ride, turned into a mission: to help good people perform when all eyes are on.
Ray has spent more than three and a half decades in aviation, including a record 22 years straight as an Air Force flight instructor and examiner. He has trained hundreds of pilots, tested them, and signed them off. He has also watched the same story play out time and again: a genuinely skilled professional, undone in the moment not by a gap in knowledge or skill, but by the way their body and mind reacted to pressure.
Traditional training taught the aircraft and the procedures - "the technical". CRM education taught how to use the resources around us, but a gap was left in the domain of managing the debilitating stress of assessments and examinations. Ray decided to close that gap by creating "The Performance Course."
Is it effective?... read the Testimonials.
A ballistic object follows a trajectory set by the forces that first acted upon it. The path will not change unless acted upon. When we experience the same reaction time and again around check time, it is time to take back control of the trajectory. The Performance Course generates that control.
"What got you here won't get you there."
Thirty-five years with a hand on the controls, and on both sides of the check ride.
In 2010, Ray built the Performance Course to address a specific problem that standard CRM training left untouched: the degraded performances that competent people deliver under examination, a phenomenon known in aviation as "checkitis." He drew on aviation psychology, medical science and the study of stress and startle reactions to build something practical.
The core insight is simple but powerful. Much of the stress in a high-stakes moment comes from a personal goal conflict, the collision of multiple obligations under time pressure. The course does not try to remove that pressure. Instead it diffuses your reaction to it, through a new way of seeing the moment and coaching that rapidly rebuilds situational awareness.
Since then, the course has helped over a thousand professional pilots, along with police, clinicians, mining professionals and business leaders. Many report not just better checks, but calmer, more present lives outside work too.
Who it serves
The original audience, from cadets to command, across airlines worldwide.
High-consequence work where composure and clear thinking save outcomes.
Proven with front-line and air-wing teams who face pressure daily.
Safety-critical roles where a lapse under load carries real risk.
Anyone whose best work has to appear on demand, in front of others.
Executives and teams who want authentic leadership under real stress.
Join the next Performance Course, or arrange a private session.