The Idea That Wanted to Teach the World to Fly
Revisiting Path 2 Flight: What Happens When a Vision Arrives Early
I grew up in a world where flying wasn’t a hobby; it was a heritage. Airplanes on the ramp. Experiments in the hangar. Stories of impossible flights told around the dinner table. Aviation, in my family, wasn’t mythology. It was everyday life.
And yet, in the strangest twist, I am now the only one in my family still flying.
That reality carries a quiet responsibility. Not a weight, but a calling, to keep alive the spirit of curiosity, courage, and wonder that shaped the world I grew up in.
Path 2 Flight came from that impulse.
What Path 2 Flight Was Trying to Do
For those who never heard of it, Path 2 Flight was a company I founded to help people take their very first steps into aviation without the intimidation, the cost barriers, or the sense that flying was a world closed off to them.
I imagined a modern on-ramp into aviation:
• immersive VR experiences
• simplified pathways
• accessible introductions
• and a way to turn raw curiosity into confidence
But it didn’t begin only as a training concept.
In its earliest form, Path 2 Flight was a platform that connected people directly to flight experiences across the country—airplane rides, glider flights, helicopter tours, discovery flights. With just a few clicks, anyone could book an experience and step into the world of aviation.
The purpose wasn’t just to get people trained.
It was to get people comfortable. Curious. Engaged.
To make aviation part of the conversation again.
I wanted to build a bridge between two worlds that rarely spoke the same language:
the tech world, which didn’t fully understand general aviation,
and the general aviation world, which didn’t fully understand tech.
Making flight accessible wasn’t only about convenience.
It was about expanding the pool of people, ideas, and energy entering aviation.
The Aviation World We Started In
When Path 2 Flight took shape (2015–2018), aviation looked very different:
General aviation was shrinking
Training was expensive
Airports were quieter
Fewer young people were entering aviation
Flight schools were uneven
Airlines were whispering about shortages
At the same time, Uber Elevate introduced early concepts of on-demand air taxis. Urban air mobility existed mostly on whiteboards—not as functioning aircraft, infrastructure, or regulation.
Everyone sensed a shift coming.
Few could describe it.
What I saw clearly was this:
We were moving into a new era of aviation without an accessible on-ramp for new pilots.
And you can’t build the future of flight without future pilots.
Creating Path 2 Flight
The idea was simple:
What if the first step into aviation didn’t require money, connections, or courage you weren’t sure you had yet?
Virtual reality had matured into something more than a novelty. It could immerse someone in the sensation of flight. Build confidence. Teach skills. Remove the fear that keeps potential pilots on the ground.
The goal was to take someone from:
curious → capable → cockpit-ready
Path 2 Flight wasn’t the future of training.
It was the beginning of it.
An invitation.
A doorway.
A spark.
And Then Came 2020
We had momentum. Interest. Partners. Early traction.
And then the world stopped.
2020 collapsed early-stage funding, froze investor appetite, and brought aviation to a near standstill. It wasn’t the idea that failed. It was the moment.
Timing is louder than vision sometimes.
I had to let Path 2 Flight go.
Not the mission, just the company.
The idea was early. Not wrong.
2015 vs 2025: How Much Has Changed
A decade later, aviation has evolved more than anyone predicted—and yet, the underlying challenges remain.
Back then:
Shrinking general aviation
High training costs
Instructor shortages
Fewer young pilots
Early rumblings of a shortage
eVTOL as concept
Today:
Boeing forecasts 800,000+ pilots needed globally
eVTOLs nearing certification
Airlines building direct pipelines
Autonomous cargo emerging
Simulator-based training normalized
Training still expensive
GA still hard to access
Shortage shifting, not solved
In short:
The future of aviation needs more people, more pathways, and more entry points than ever.
Everything Path 2 Flight tried to address still exists, only magnified.
The Next Generation of Vehicles
Autonomy, once hypothetical, is now part of aviation’s present.
Not fully autonomous passenger aircraft, those are still years away, but:
autonomous cargo aircraft are entering service
eVTOLs are preparing for real deployment
hybrid training models are emerging
pilot roles are evolving into supervisory and hybrid modes
Autonomy doesn’t eliminate the pilot.
It redefines the pilot.
Aviation careers are beginning to look less like a single ladder and more like a constellation:
Cessna → ratings → regional airline → major airline
becomes
remote operator → eVTOL pilot → safety supervisor → aerospace systems specialist
The future needs accessible pathways.
Exactly what Path 2 Flight tried to build.
Why the Mission Still Matters
After Path 2 Flight closed, the idea didn’t leave me.
It stayed in the same part of me that flying occupies, the place where wonder lives.
I didn’t build Path 2 Flight to start a company.
I built it because I grew up in a world where anyone could walk onto a ramp, tap the wing of an airplane, and feel something shift inside them.
Curiosity.
Possibility.
Awe.
I’m the only one still flying in my family, and I carry that truth gently, not as pressure, but as meaning.
I want people to look up again. To feel connected to the sky. To remember that innovation doesn’t start with machines, it starts with imagination.
Look Up
The mission didn’t end in 2020.
It simply changed form.
Now it lives here, in my writing, my speaking, my work, and the curiosity I hope to spark.
Look up.
Because the sky is still open.
Because wonder is still a skill worth cultivating.
Because someone, somewhere, is about to fly for the first time.
They just don’t know it yet.