Stephen is a warbird pilot, instructor, air racer, and mechanic.

While still in high school, Stephen began his warbird career by volunteering at the California Capital Airshow in Sacramento, CA. Stephen attended Seattle University in the fall of 2008, but continued to volunteer for the airshow while home on summer vacations. In between his studies, Stephen found time to earn his Private Pilot’s Certificate, taking his checkride within a few weeks of graduating from college.

In his senior year of college, Stephen began volunteering with the Collings Foundation, traveling as a flight engineer on the B-24 Liberator as part of the Wings of Freedom tour. After graduation, Stephen became a full time volunteer until the final weeks of the 2012 tour season. Under the guidance of veteran air race crew member Ben Marsh, and having been a volunteer for the Dreadnought Air Race Team, Stephen began as a full-time apprentice under the tutelage of Dennis Sanders and Sanders Aeronautics in October, 2012. Stephen officially joined the Sanders Air Racing Team and attended the 2013 Reno Air Races as a crew member.

Stephen worked his way up, acquiring ratings and experience as he went. In 2015, he began spending his summers in Seattle at Kenmore Air Harbor as a manager of the line crew and dockhands. In 2016, he secured a position as a seaplane instructor and by the Summer of 2017, had enough experience to become a line pilot in the DeHavilland Beaver for Kenmore Air Harbor where he flew seasonally through 2022.

Stephen soloed the Vance Family P-51, Speedball Alice, after the air races in 2022; and in 2023 attended the Pylon Racing Seminar at the Reno Air Races. In September of that year, Stephen was issued the last ever Unlimited Race License at Reno. Stephen flew the Sanders’ Sea Fury Argonaut to a second place finish behind Stevo Hinton Jr, and was recognized as the Unlimited Class Rookie of the Year.