John first soloed in 1974 after 3:45 hours of flight training and was awarded his private pilot license on the family Citabia after only 35 hours total time. During the check ride the Transport Canada examiner asked him if they could do a "spin" and John proceeded to complete a two and a half turn spin in each direction.
A year later he passed his commercial flight test after exactly 20 hours of instructor time at the Winnipeg Flying Club - the minimum instruction time allowed.

Over the next 45 years Captain Goulet accumulated over 18,000 hours of flying experience holding pilot licenses and/or authorizations in 12 different countries and designated flight examiner (TRE) in 5 countries. In order to better understand and control flight operations from the ground up John went back to the Winnipeg Flying School in 1979 to obtain his Instructor Rating which he has used diligently to set up and control company flight operations and standard operating procedures. "It is an easier transition from TRE to Chief Pilot, to Operations Manager and eventually Managing Director of the companies you work for when you write your own manuals and know your flight operations inside and out."

John's interest in management grew along with his involvement in the adventure of bush flying into remote regions. He felt very strongly that one did not need to compromise safety even in regions devoid of govenmental oversight. John worked with companies who wanted the ability to operate safely and efficiently in remote areas and so becoming the expert at setting up, maintaining and operating modern and efficient air services in places such as Northern Canada, Fiji, Nigeria, Venezuela, Brazil, Madagascar, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Chad, Indonesia, Seychelles, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and the Maldives.

More than just a pilot John also published the second ever aviation web site to appear on the world wide web. He believed that a web site should not just provide links and advertisements but should provide useful content to the user. Virtual Horizons was one of the first ever content driven ezines published on the www and is still active and running today without sponsorship or advertising.

The passion for travelling and adventure also goes hand in hand with John's passion for writing and photography. A small fraction of his over 80,000 edited online images can be seen on his web site John Goulet Photography. He has sold images to publications such as Canadian Aviation, Forbes Magazine, Conde Nast Traveller, Rotor & Wing and others. Some of his stories and articles can be found on his ezine Virtual Horizons or on his Pilot Blog Book. Additionally all the images posted on this web site were taken by John S Goulet on work sites around the world.