Mario McGee
Owner & Chief Pilot: CFI, CFII, MEI, A&P
Glenn Nuyttens
Assistant Chief Instructor: CFI Glenn is characterized by his style of teaching which is unique, fun and always backed up by his past experiences.
Ron Diana
I decided I wanted to fly early in my life, and I am not sure exactly what events spurred that desire. Was it the war movies I watched with my Dad, a WW II veteran, or the airshows he took me to when I was young? In my senior year of High School, I had a class called Automotive 3. It was misnamed and turned out to be private pilot ground school and the second semester we worked on a Cessna 152 that had crashed and the teacher had it put in our shop. I took my first discovery flight that year.
When I was commissioned in the Army, I tried to get into the Army’s flight program, but my eyes did not meet the standard. While stationed in Europe I had the chance to be a Ground Liaison Officer with the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing and while there had an opportunity to fly in the right seat of F111F aircraft and was even allowed to fly the plane during these flights.
In 1988 and 1990 I started working towards my PPL but flying requires time and money at the same time and I put this desire on hold until after returning from Iraq in 2004. It would take me 26 months to get my certificate because I only had time and money to fly 3 to 4 days a month. I finally got my PPL in October of 2006. I then started to add endorsements. I got high performance and complex endorsements in the winter of 2007 and my instrument certificate in January 2010.
Over the next few years, I was working in Afghanistan and did not get the opportunity to fly many hours, but during that time I decided to become a CFI. In the summer of 2012, I added a multiengine rating to my Private Pilot Certificate.
I moved to Texas in June of 2014 and started in earnest to get my commercial multiengine and single engine certificates. I then started working on my Multiengine and Certified Instructor Certificates at Bario Aviation with Mario as my CFI. This past March I received my Instrument Instructor Certificate. I enjoy flying and own a 1979 TR182 aircraft. The last 17 years have seen me achieve the desires I had in my youth. Only in flight can we humans be truly free of the earth.
Ethan Jones CFI, CFII & MEI
“As a kid I had always been interested in aviation because of my grandfather who was a B29 instructor in the 1940’s. I began training for my PPL in 2018 but school prevented me from pursuing my certificates. When I graduated high school COVID was in full swing and college didn’t seem like a possible path so I pursued flying as a career obtaining my instructor and commercial certificates. I love flying and even more so helping others enjoy the skies!”
Ethan is also well known for liking boats; he constantly remarks “I like boats.”