Photos courtesy of Kelley Hammond and Omar Barrera
Jimmy Graham wound up playing tight end in the National Football League, but his initial career trajectory led him to believe he would be a military pilot.
“This all started at the age of four, when I sat in front of a TV that had the movie Top Gun on it. I was a military kid at the time living in Germany on a base, so I really had this dream of one day being a fighter pilot,” Graham recalled.
“You know, once I got to six-foot-four, I realized that was a pipe dream. So, I started playing basketball and started dunking on people instead. And when I was in college, I had the opportunity to go up in an Extra 300. I remember we went out over the water, and we were inverted. That day I said, ‘I am going to do whatever it takes to learn this one day.”
Becoming a pilot wouldn’t be as far in the future as Graham initially expected. A late transition to the gridiron from the hardwood gave him the flexibility and means to pursue aviation.
“I switched to football in college and six months later got drafted into the NFL, even though I didn’t know what I was doing. Next thing I know, I’m a rookie behind Jeremy Shockey playing with Drew Brees and Reggie Bush. After my rookie season, they basically said that I was going to be the starter next year and it was my position to lose,” he said.
“And most guys, when they first get into the league after rookie year, it’s the first time you’ve had time and money. We got beaten up in the second round [of the playoffs], so we were home in January, and they basically said, ‘Listen, don’t get arrested. We’ll see you for offseason training in April. I hadn’t earned anything yet and was just this basketball player trying to play football. To stay focused, instead of going out [to party], I actually went to flight school every morning at 7:00 a.m. in the offseason. That would become my routine for ten straight years, and I used the season during our breaks to study. I wanted to know everything, and if you ever asked any of my old teammates, I was never the guy on the team plane to watch a movie. I always had a book in my hand, and it usually had something to do with aviation.”
Graham’s coachability and tenacity translated well in the cockpit, and he earned a private pilot license during his first offseason. The long-term goal from the outset was to get into aerobatics, but flying was also useful when travelling between his main residence in Southern Florida and the four towns he played in during his football career. He had originally purchased a G36 Bonanza to travel between Miami and New Orleans, and shortly after purchased an Extra 330LX, which he still owns to this day.
A highlight of his time as a Saint was leading the league in receiving touchdowns during the 2013 season. After five years in New Orleans, he started a new adventure in 2014 after being traded 1,800 nautical miles northwest.
“Seattle has one of the best ownerships in all of football, with Paul Allen, who was an absolute brain. I ended up being really close with him because of aviation, and he was a special human who shared a lot with me about his passion for the upcoming things that he had (like the biggest hangar in the world, with the biggest plane). It was magical being able to be with him, and I got to meet a lot of his friends,” Graham said.
“My first week on the job, this guy came in and said, ‘Hey, I hear you are a pilot?’ I said that I was, and he replied that he used to own the team and asked if I had ever thought about being a seaplane pilot. I said that I was saving that for an offseason, but John [Nordstrom] was like ‘Well, I flew in today. Do you want to go out back and fly the Beaver?’ Seattle is one of the biggest aviation communities in the world, and it was a special community to be a part of.”
Seaplane flying would become a regular fixture of Graham’s Seattle experience, and he would ultimately have a 1957 Army Beaver restored, which he flew between Lake Washington and the practice facility. Three seasons with the Seahawks came and went quickly before he packed up and went to Green Bay in 2018. This is where he began his next aviation journey – Turbo Commander ownership.
“Getting in and out of Green Bay was the worst thing humanly possible. If you leave from Miami, you’re going to go to Chicago or through Detroit. It’s going to be delayed or cancelled every time. I was pretty tired of flying to Chicago and the flight getting cancelled and renting a car to make it to practice on time,” he said.
“When I was in Seattle, I was lucky enough to be introduced to Joe Clark, who said whenever I retired, he’d like to mentor me in the business space. He had sent me a picture of a Turbo Commander and said that I was a Turbo Commander pilot. I looked at the plane and was like, ‘This thing’s ugly. What’s going on?’ But when I was looking for options for commuters back into my time as a Packer, I ran the numbers on basically everything. The 421, King Air 200, and Citations up through the [CJ]4; basically, everything single-pilot was looked into. I was always coming up short on something. If it wasn’t range, then it wasn’t power. If it wasn’t power, it was speed, the ability to land anywhere, or carry full fuel and fill the seats. I remembered that turboprop that Joe Clark was talking to me about, so I looked into it.”
What Graham thought the aircraft lacked in aesthetics was more than made up for in its performance. He was excited to learn about all of the impressive things that Bob Hoover did to push the athletic aircraft past its known limits.
“You always think of a high wing being slower, right? When it comes to speed, you’re not thinking of them. But once I looked into all the numbers and realized I could fit in the thing, I talked to a ton of pilots and mechanics. I had looked into a Cheyenne 400LS, and the thing is an absolute beast, but it doesn’t have support. After reading all the articles and books, hearing Joe Clark and everyone else tell me it’s a pilot’s plane and that I was going to love it, I said, ‘Okay, the Turbo Commander is the one’ and actually purchased mine without ever flying one.”
The aircraft was essentially rebuilt, with new paint, interior, and an avionics upgrade with Garmin components. One of the interesting aspects of the model worth mentioning is that there are many different variants, all of which have their own nuances and optional equipment. Specific intricacies like nose wheel steering and Garrett engines were some things to become acquainted with, and the five-time Pro Bowler easily translated his book knowledge of this aircraft during simulator training and three days of in-aircraft training.
“From day one, it was just unbelievable. I was just shocked at what this plane could do when it came to short-field takeoffs and landings. I flew to the West Coast four times last year, to Idaho. Its ability in the mountains is untouched. I actually fly mine out of a grass strip, and technically the book is 1,800 feet [for landing distance] and 2,100 for taking off but for me my limit is 2,500 feet for taking off or landing, no matter the surface (unless there is snow and then it’s 3,000),” he said, advising that the aircraft perfectly fits his mission. A frequent flight is from Southern Florida to The Bahamas, where Graham is a private lender.
“The 960’s time to climb to 18,000 is less than nine minutes, and then the range on it. I know a lot of people love the PT6; it’s a great engine that’s done a lot, but when it comes to instant power, climb, and fuel burn, there’s nothing that beats a Garrett. If you chop power and put that prop forward, it’ll be a big speed brake, and you’ll be descending at 5,000 feet a minute. I mean, it’s incredible.”
Graham notes that the aircraft gets him to Chicago or Boston nonstop from Miami with full seats and fuel. The aircraft, which is one of the few built by Gulfstream, isn’t RVSM equipped, so he’s flying as high as FL280 – while burning 220 pounds per side an hour.
“Really, the biggest advantage is the TPE331-10. It’s just a beast of an engine and sips fuel. When doing single-engine emergency [work], I’ve had 500 plus feet per minute [when climbing]. And the engine was upgraded and put into an engine program that increased the TBO to 7,000 hours from 5,000 hours. That is something a PT6 would never do, and being at 2,000 hours a side right now, I will be flying high in the sky with Black Pearl for some time now,” Graham advised, highlighting his favorite aspects of the aircraft.
“The biggest downside is the learning curve of the systems. The Garretts are very complex, and you have to fully understand the engine checks and what you are looking for before you depart. The biggest thing is the Negative Torque System. Without it, you won’t be able to fully feather the prop in an engine-out situation, and that’s a no-go item. The props are huge and would create insane drag,” he explained.
“The electrical system and bus panel are a lot. And the hydraulic system is as well. The biggest learning curve is the nose wheel steering, which at first is very different, and the pilot’s load is significant. There are a lot of systems to manually operate. The biggest problem is that it has a few items to get the gear down, but inside the cockpit, for the pilot, you have to know how to manually extend if all the auto systems fail. The good thing is if you do, most likely land on the belly and your props will never touch – saving you from destroying the most expensive parts of the rebuild.”
Graham spent his 2023 season back in New Orleans. He has since continued putting much of his energy towards fitness and aviation, and officially retired from the National Football League in July of this year. When not behind the oars of a rowboat or on a bike, he is often in the sky, flying for business, pleasure, or connecting others to aviation. He founded the Jimmy Graham Foundation, which flies a Huey UH-1 helicopter, “to provide life-changing and impactful experiences through the freedom of flight…recognize the accomplishments and sacrifices of all eras and provide flights for unfamiliar and underprivileged youth as an introduction to aviation.” And in the same vein, he also inspires the next generation of aviators through EAA’s Young Eagles program, which he was named the chairman of last year.
