Captain Lee Collins

Sr. VP, Industry & Govt. Affairs

Captain Lee Collins

Captain Lee Collins, Senior Vice President of Industry and Government Affairs with Paragon Flight in Ft. Myers, Florida, is a highly respected airline and aviation industry leader whose career has spanned more than 35 years and includes both domestic and international commercial airline service. Throughout his career, Captain Collins has held numerous leadership roles at the industry level, including President of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA) – the United States’ only airline pilot trade association.

During his tenure at CAPA, Captain Collins helped author significant legislative improvements in airline safety and training requirements for airline pilots, along with other industry changing efforts to enhance aviation system safety. He brings a substantial resume of leadership in both airline and aviation government and legislative affairs. He is widely recognized for his expertise in organizational design and development, strategic visioning, airline safety and flight operations, as well as expertise in federal legislative and regulatory policy.

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Captain Collins has served in numerous philanthropic/not-for-profit roles and is a founding member of the IPA (Independent Pilots Association) Foundation (1994), which focuses on making a difference in the lives of children with exceptional medical requirements.

Captain Collins holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. He also holds a Master of Divinity degree from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Captain Collins and his wife Michelle currently reside in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Paragon Flight Programs & Fleet

Meet Our Graduates

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Micah D.

My name is Micah Doane, I trained through Paragon Flight for nearly all of my training until I became a Paragon Flight Instructor. From day one I could tell that Paragon was a place where I could learn about aviation at the highest level without wasting my time or money. Apart from the incredible instruction I received, I also had a blast learning to fly! I met many great friends along the way whom I still keep in contact with, most of which also fly for airlines or large charter companies now. I found instructing at paragon to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I wouldn’t trade my time at the school for any other job. Training at Paragon taught me the importance of balance and showed me how to operate at an extremely high level and how to have fun while doing it. My time with Paragon fully prepared me for my next steps in an airline career and I will be forever grateful for this flight school and its community.

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Will H.

The great environment that paragon made. Focusing on customer experience still stands true today. I also met my now wife while working at Paragon!

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Kelsey M.

There are too many memories to list for me since I was there for about 9 years. I will say the biggest memory/experience while working there would be the lifelong friends that we all made. Paragon was just one big family unit and was literally the most fun job to go to everyday, especially since I was working with all of my friends!

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Adam T.

When I worked at Paragon we were a small group of just 5 instructors. That really made it feel like a family and we had a lot of fun together sharing our passion for flying with our students. I believe that family vibe as coworkers steered me toward the corporate world of flying. My current job is a continuation of that family environment and we work very hard to fly the most important people of our company safely to their destinations and we have a lot of fun doing it at the same time!

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Chris P.

Having been able to spend a lot of time with Paragon while I was there, I was able to form many great friendships with other Instructors, Employees, and Students.  Many of whom we all stay in contact with to this day.  My most memorable experience though by far was having our Wedding Reception in the Hangar surrounded by Friends, Family, and Various Aircraft.  

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