Haden Bray's Story

My name is Haden Bray.
I was originally born and raised in Amarillo, TX but have lived in ETX for the past 13 years. I work full-time for a chartering company in Longview, and also flight instruct during the evenings and on the weekends. I am 23 years old, enjoy time building with my friends to new airports, and enjoy playing golf. Growing up I was always so fascinated with the big airport environments when traveling. I loved walking through the terminals and getting to take rides in big airplanes! As I got older and began to think about my future, I was encouraged to take a local discovery flight. enjoyed the flight and being able to go up, but I was not initially hooked. As I learned how much work and training it took to become a pilot, did not think I was qualified nor ready to expend the time and money that was required. I eventually told myself that nothing in life is easy, and anything worth dreaming about is something worth working hard for. When I finally made my commitment to pursue a career in aviation, I never looked back and have enjoyed the journey flying has brought me so far!I began flying in Longview at a local part 61 school in 2023. Over the span of approximately 6 months, I was able to complete all of my solo and cross country requirements, and had accumulated close to 40 hours of flight time - all while working two part time jobs and attending college at UT Tyler. Once I graduated college I moved to North Carolina to attend Blue Line Aviation, where I finished my private training and acquired all of my other additional ratings. Now I currently instruct at Johnson Aviation in Tyler, Texas. The best moments of my aviation journey have been the opportunities that I have been presented. The people I got to meet in flight school who are now my lifelong friends are what truly helped me succeed in flight school. I could not have done it alone, so finding people in a similar stage of training was super helpful.The hardest part about my aviation journey was moving away from home to attend flight training. Leaving my friends and family behind and being 18 hours away was so hard at first. l even thought about quitting flight school and moving back home after just the first couple of days of training, but no one would let me quit. The more I thought about it, I would not have wanted myself to quit either. It got easier as the days and weeks went by the more I surrounded myself with other student pilots who were in a similar boat but also who we could all help rally around and support one another. When I first got into aviation, all I could picture myself doing was one day flying for Southwest Airlines. If I were to still go to the airlines and have the opportunity to do it, l would still love to go to Southwest. But as I have gotten out of training and began working in the industry, I have learned that there are so many avenues for fiying out there. Still being a low-time pilot, I look forward to the unknown and seeing where my path takes me.

I met Daniel when I was working the line at Johnson Aviation when he was training to become a pilot - before I had even started my own training. We officially crossed paths when I was looking for an instructor to help me get proficient flying instrument in the 172 after l returned home from flight school. The planes that we used in flight school were all G1000, so Thad reached out to Daniel as a safety pilot of coarse, but also to learn the ins and outs of the 172's that are used in Tyler. He was very helpful during this time as I was getting back into the standard 6-pack airplane after flying in all glass airplanes.

Daniel was very professional and takes a safe and engaging approach to his flying and instruction. He helped me transition into a plane that I had not flown in a while so that I could also begin to start instructing students in Tyler.


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