 In 1992, he attained notoriety by his record-breaking flight in a small airplane from California to Egypt (described in "The Cockpit").In 1996, Gahlinger became Chief Medical Officer of Johnston Atoll, a chemical weapons demilitarization site in the mid-Pacific.Under his stewardship, the island obtained JCAHO (Joint Commission) and ISO-9000 accreditation and certification by the Chemical Weapons Convention for health care.