Chaparral Jet Center

It is with heavy Hearts that we announce the passing of our founder Wallace Thrash. From West Texas cotton farmer to Jet Setter, Wallace spent the last 50 years in aviation, building a business focused on safety,
efficiency, and providing customers with the highest quality of service. His never say no attitude led to his successful commercial flying career consisting of corporate, cargo, air ambulance, and passenger charter. He flew cotton merchants, oilmen, celebrities, politicians, and even an Apollo 13 astronaut. Every customer was always treated with the same amount of professionalism regardless of their status. Wallace's long-standing
relationship with Texas Tech University was highlighted by his contract to fly the men's basketball team for several years. These team trips were highly orchestrated 3 aircraft operations with the Falcon 20 and two Learjet
25's. Wallace accumulated roughly 19,000 total flight hours, traveling approximately 6 million miles. He logged hours in 29 different aircraft types. While his personal experience speaks for itself, Wallace's biggest
contribution to aviation over the past 50 years, was taking pilots from minimum time requirements and grooming them to be successful in their future careers as airline captains, chief pilots, and directors of flight departments. While this is a sad time for all of us, it is also a happy time to reflect. Wallace was a kind, humble, and charitable man that changed so many peoples lives for the better. There is no doubt his legacy will live on. Thank you for everything Wallace, it was fun!

Chaparral Jet Center is proud to have been selected as your CAA Preferred FBO at LBB. Stop in and see us!

Early morning turboprop lineup.

Our sincere congrats go out to Wallace Thrash, owner of Chaparral Jet Center. Wallace recently received the The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, the most prestigious award issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. Let's tip our hats and raise our glass to Wallace!