Expanding on an open door policy

Brian Hughes is a high school teacher who, like so many in his field with years of experience, was facing burnout.

While teaching is his passion, behavioral issues and the unavoidable bureaucracy inherent with any large public school system had worn on him. He was very near the point of being ready to throw in the towel.

That’s when he overheard a conversation about his high school bringing the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) aviation STEM curriculum to his school as an elective.

Hughes made a beeline for the principal and told her point blank: “You’ve got to let me teach that class.”

The fire was lit. Brian Hughes transitioned from understandably frustrated to highly motivated in a nanosecond.

I met Brian shortly after his interaction with the school principal. He wanted to teach an aviation STEM class, but had no training or experience in the field. What he did have was motivation and drive.

A former football coach, Hughes knows a thing or two about setting goals, perseverance, and the pride that comes with success. So, we crafted a plan. I began coaching him. You might think of it as a series of one-on-one ground school sessions. Hughes took the sessions seriously. He sat for and passed his Private Pilot Knowledge Test.

Metaphorically speaking, a small snowball started rolling down a very steep hill.

Within a very short period of time Hughes realized that he’d serve as a much better mentor and motivator for his students if he was a pilot. He applied for scholarships, but none were awarded. He talked to his wife about the financial commitment of flight training. She saw his passion for the subject. Brian committed himself to a flight training plan, followed it, and became a private pilot.

The snowball picked up speed and size.

Discussions ensued about enhancing the aeronautical experience available to his students. What resulted was the Aspiring Aviators Aero Club, a high school flying club based in central Florida. Seeing the potential of what the club could do for teenagers with an interest in spreading their wings and exploring new opportunities, Hughes was adamant the club have an open door policy. Membership shouldn’t and wouldn’t be limited to students who attended classes at the high school where he taught. It would be open to any student from any school, including home-schooled students.

An increasingly large snowball gained momentum.

That open door policy has extended beyond the original plan to welcome any student from any institution from any of the surrounding towns. More students joined.

More aircraft and aircraft parts were donated. Money was tight, as it always is for non-profit organizations, but the Aspiring Aviators found a way to cover its bills.

The club hosts an annual golf tournament that serves as its largest source of funds. Members also solicit donations from local businesses and individuals that support the effort. They’ve also held an airplane wash or two on the ramp just outside the club’s hangar.

The most recent airplane wash was scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. It didn’t happen. On the Wednesday prior to the scheduled event, Hurricane Ian got jiggy and departed from the path it was projected to follow. It hooked to the east, battered Fort Myers badly, then soaked the ground and whipped structures with vicious winds as it continued across the peninsula of Florida.

You know what happened next. It was on the news.

Let’s step back to early Wednesday when the storm’s erratic movements first suggested it might come to the doorstep of the flying club and its neighboring community. Keeping with its open-door policy, the club’s board of directors has a standing directive to welcome strays into the hangar should inclement weather be approaching.

A couple years back it was a transient Beech Bonanza that rolled into the AAAC hangar. Safe and snug throughout the storm, the owners were thrilled to find their aircraft in fine shape. Certainly better than it would have fared if left unprotected on the ramp.

This year the club reorganized its project aircraft to accommodate a Cessna 195 on straight floats. Hurricane Ian wasn’t fooling around and so the airport administration worked with tenants to make sure every possible hangar space was filled with an airplane. A wise and compassionate move.

When the sun rose on Thursday morning after a brutal night of winds tearing down trees and beating structures into submission, the light of day made it possible to survey the damage left behind. Flooding rains swept the region, depositing nearly a foot and a half of rain to the south of the club’s home base. Reaching the airport was a challenge as roads were closed due to downed trees and flooded roads.

The damage was bad, but not fatal. Ian took the hangar’s four steel doors and flung them about like dominoes. Fortunately, three of the four fell outside the hangar. The fourth fell inside causing minor damage to the C-195.

Everything in the hangar was soaked. Papers that were securely stored away were now on the ramp in tattered clumps of soggy pulp. The back of the hangar held several inches of water. And the entire 50-foot-wide front of the hangar was open.

The airport administration stepped in immediately. It offered two small storage rooms, which club members used to tuck away their tool boxes, parts, and a C-90 engine that will one day hang on the 1946 Piper Cub they’re restoring.

The club will survive. A major hurricane blew through the area causing damage, injury, and even death. But the club will survive, unbowed by the challenges that occur. Life lessons are being learned. Persistence is being put into action. Established standards are being tested and validated.

As a small crowd of club members, parents, and mentors gathered to relocate materials to the newly acquired storage rooms, teacher, mentor, board member, and pilot Brian Hughes peeked over his sunglasses at the damaged structure and said, “Well, I guess we’ve expanded our open door policy now.”

And so, they have.

The snowball continues to grow. Perhaps it’s a bit lumpy in places. Bruised a bit. But still rolling, still growing, and now confident that it can weather any storm…literally and figuratively.