Former Fighter Pilots Sued Over Motivational Speaking Engagements, Consulting Curricula

A civil lawsuit brought against four former naval aviators for wearing their flight suits while pursuing post-military careers as consultants and motivational speakers has not gone unnoticed in the military aviation community.

The quartet consists of John Borneman, Kyle Howlin, John Underhill and Carey Lohrenz ... the first female F-14 pilot. All had worked at various times for a consulting firm called Afterburner, which employs military fighter-pilot imagery and jargon in its training curricula. They went on to form their own company ... The Corps Group ... which offers similar services in 2008.

According to a report appearing in Military.com, Afterburner CEO Jim Murphy sued the four and Corps Group, saying they used business leadership concepts developed by Afterburner, and for 'service mark and trade dress' infringement. A judge ruled in favor of Afterburner on April 1 after five years of legal battles, and assessed damages of more than $788,000.

While the jury in the civil case found that The Corps Group did use service-marked terms and the use of flight suits was too close to Afterburner's image, Borneman argues that all pilots wear flight suits, and that some of the terms service marked by Afterburner like "Execution Rhythm" are universal in the fighter pilot community and commonly used by all fighter pilots.

The controversy caught the attention of no lesser pilot than Chuck Yeager, who wrote on his Facebook page that "Afterburner has sued a few people claiming he owns the trademark for pilot flight suits."

In a response, Afterburner said that was "absolutely untrue. Unfortunately, this misinformation was repeated in various blogs. The truth of the matter is that Afterburner was and is only trying to protect itself from unfair competition."

Afterburner has filed an injunction against The Corps Group preventing them from wearing military flights suits and patches, using audio and visual representations of military aviation, and using high-energy music and military set dressing in conjunction with their consulting business. "Right now, I basically have to de-fighter pilot myself," to stay in business, Borneman told Military.com, "and that fighter pilot image is a big deal to me."

FMI: www.afterburnerconsulting.com, www.thecorpsgroup.com