A Grandfathers Legacy In Aviation

Last Friday, during a book signing event, I met a grandfather whose story has stayed with me.

We started talking about aviation, and before long, he began telling me about his grandson. The grandson had a dream. To have a career in aviation. The Grandfather, a retired Command Sergeant Major, noticed that passion and paid his entire ride through college. But there is more, a whole lot more.

As the grandson progressed through college, classes, licenses, and ratings were delayed due to long waiting lists. The problem was not motivation; the problem was availability.

The flight courses the college offered for instrument, commercial, and multi-engine training had become heavily overbooked. There were long waiting lists, delays, and bottlenecks that were slowing everything down. The grandson wanted to move forward, but the pipeline was backed up. The grandfather saw what was happening and decided he would not let the momentum die.

So, he took matters into his own hands.

He brought his grandson down to Florida, checked into a hotel room for several weeks, and put him through an accelerated training program so he could earn the ratings he needed and keep progressing toward his dream. All in one summer

Instrument rating. Commercial. Multi-engine. CFI. Multi-engine instructor.

That is commitment.

Not just financially, but personally. The grandfather was all in.

As he stood there telling me the story, you could hear the pride in his voice. And honestly, he had every reason to be proud. The grandson graduated last December with his aviation degree and today is a flight instructor with close to 900 hours under his belt. That conversation stayed with me because it reminded me how powerful mentorship and love really are.

Very few people accomplish meaningful things entirely on their own. Somewhere along the line, somebody sacrifices, encourages, guides, opens a door, or refuses to let us quit when things get difficult. The older I get, the more I realize that mentorship is not always loud.

Sometimes it looks like a grandfather quietly getting a hotel room in Florida because he believes in somebody's future.

Sometimes it looks like investing time, money, patience, and energy into another human being simply because you do not want to see their dream stall out. And truthfully, the best mentors usually point beyond themselves. Toward discipline. Toward responsibility. Toward faith.

Toward purpose.

I think that is why this story hit me the way it did.

Because in a world where it is easy to criticize the next generation, this grandfather decided to invest in one. And now a young flight instructor with nearly 900 hours is moving toward a professional aviation career because somebody cared enough to step in at the right moment and help him keep moving forward. His Grandfather was the ultimate mentor.

I write books, not to sell books, but to tell important stories. Stories about learning from failure. Picking yourself up from loss. Direction, discipline, and most importantly, mentorship. In my book, Flying High, I talk about failure through improper training and then success through mentorship. I talk about discipline and what happens when aviation discipline is applied to daily life, faith, and leadership. The story of aviation is most powerful!