This young man is a pilot at heart! He was exposed at an early age to multiple aircraft and spent many hours and weekends at airports. He grew up in an aviation family and has learned from an early age that aviation was exciting and challenging, something he was looking for in a career.  Ryan’s first flight lesson was at 5. As he got older, he loved learning aerobatics and would be the first to volunteer to go fly.  On Ryan’s 16^th birthday he received his driver’s license in the morning, and he soloed in a CE-172K in the late afternoon.  Ryan continued flying until he suffered major sports injuries. He recovered after his first broken hip after 7 months to continue flying and then was brought to a sudden stop with a 2^nd broken hip, later followed by a knee surgery. That didn’t slow Ryan down, but it fueled his fire received his Private, Instrument, Commercial Single, and Commercial Multi-engine within 12 months’ time while attending college for a bachelor’s degree in business. Just days ago, Ryan became a Commercial Rotorcraft Pilot. He will continue to pursue as well as CFI, Single Engine. Ryan also holds a high-power endorsement and a tail wheel endorsement.  He is on track to complete his bachelor’s degree early and plans to pursue a master’s degree.

When he is not in class or flying, Ryan volunteers with several associations including the Experimental Aircraft Association, Classic Jet Aircraft Association, American Honor Foundation, and the former Cold War Air Museum, and former World Heritage Air Museum. He has fulfilled many roles while volunteering from airshow crew, lineman, hangar clean up and support, assistant maintainer, and safety pilot.

Ryan has logged hours in multiple types of warbird aircraft including L-29, L-39, Mig-15, P-51, UH-1, OH-6, T-6, and the CJ-6.   Recently he accepted a position as a Commercial helicopter pilot. Ryan attends EAA Oshkosh Air Venture and Sun ‘n’ Fun yearly to enjoy the warbird community.

Ryan lives in Fairhope, AL with parents, Zach and Elena and brothers Zachary and Jason.