Redbird Appoints Military Veteran to Its Board

At the 2025 Redbird Migration Flight Training Conference, Redbird announced Pete Bunce, retiring President and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), has been elected to the company’s board of directors. Bunce brings decades of global aviation and aerospace leadership experience to the role and has a long track record of advancing general aviation innovation.

As president and CEO of GAMA, Bunce has led an association dedicated to promoting general aviation worldwide and advancing the interests of a global membership of more than 140 airframe, avionics, engine, and component manufacturers, as well as the world’s leading business aviation maintenance, repair, and overhaul companies. He will retire from the post in April 2025, after a 20-year tenure in which he helped the general aviation industry accomplish numerous legislative and regulatory milestones and expanded the reach of GAMA through several impactful initiatives, including opening a European headquarters, adding rotorcraft and advanced air mobility manufacturers as member organizations, and launching initiatives in high schools to support the aviation workforce.

“Pete will add a depth of expertise and perspective that will help us capitalize on the opportunities ahead in aviation education and flight training technology,” said Redbird President Charlie Gregoire. “From representing and advancing the interests of general aviation to global policymakers and regulatory bodies to broadening its reach in high schools across the U.S. through initiatives like the GAMA Aviation Design Challenge, Pete’s breadth of experience will be invaluable in supporting our mission to make it easier for anyone to learn to fly.”

“My experience through military aviation — with the multiplying value of realistic simulator training for accelerated initial skills enhancement, proficiency, and, most importantly, overall flight crew safety — made me an instant advocate for Redbird,” said Bunce. “I’m honored to join Redbird’s board of directors, and I look forward to helping guide the company during this exciting era in aviation and aerospace.”

Bunce is a lifelong pilot, learning to fly as a teenager in the skies over southern Wisconsin. He has more than 7,500 hours across a variety of aircraft and holds an FAA airline transport certificate and seaplane and repairmen-experimental aircraft ratings.

Before joining GAMA, Bunce had a 26-year Air Force career during which he flew F-15s and A-10s while commanding several large operational fighter units. He served as the Director of the Air Force Congressional Budget and Appropriations Liaison during his last assignment.

Bunce is a trustee of the U.S. Air Force Academy Falcon Foundation and serves on the Federal Aviation Administration’s 13-member Management Advisory Council, the FAA NextGen Advisory Committee, MITRE Corporation’s Aviation Advisory Committee, and the NASA Advisory Council Aeronautics Committee, as well as the board of the Veterans Airlift Command.

Throughout his career, Bunce has received numerous industry and business accolades for his impact and influence in aviation, including being named the Aviation Industry Leader of the Year by the Living Legends of Aviation (2007), awarded the International Council of Airshows Sword of Excellence (2009), inducted as one of the 70 Living Legends of Aviation (2010), and receiving the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Freedom of Flight Award (2024).