Never too early to live the dream

BY GRETTA THORWARTH

A frequent sight at South Carolina’s 2021 Triple Tree Aerodrome Fly-In was a North American T-6 Texan flying circuits in and out of the plush, manicured 7,000-foot turf runway. Operated by a local flight school, pilots in attendance took the opportunity to obtain instruction in the famed World War II advanced trainer during the show.

In most cases, the instructor on these sorties was Wesley Atteberry. What was particularly unusual about this scenario? The CFI’s age: Wes is only 21.

Originally from Harford County, Maryland, a small community just north of Baltimore’s urban sprawl, Wes is now an instructor at Warbird Adventures, a flight school in Ninety Six, South Carolina, that offers dual instruction in tailwheel aircraft ranging from a 150-hp Citabria to the World War II T-6 military trainer.

While many younger people in the industry often have the advantage of a connection to aviation and access to an aircraft through a parent or other relative, Wes does not share this common background. In fact, he is the only person in his family who flies.

“The first flight lesson I took was when I was 12 years old in a Super Decathlon at Harford County Airport,” Wes recollects.

It was with his neighbor, Rob Lewis, who was a flight instructor.

Although Lewis helped cultivate his interest as he grew older, Wes cannot remember a time when he was not interested in airplanes.

“My earliest memory is of holding a toy airplane,” he recalls. “I always had plastic models of warbirds sitting around in my room, and I knew that’s what I wanted to fly.”

The intrigue began so early in life that he cannot recall what, exactly, was the original motivator that piqued his interest — he just always knew that flying was what he wanted to do. Eventually, Wes attained his private pilot certificate at Harford County Airport.

In 2018, Wes was accepted at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Uninterested in taking the stereotypical route of instructing in Cessna 172s or the like to build time, Wes opted to get involved in a much different kind of flight operation. At the time, Warbird Adventures was based out of Kissimmee Gateway Airport in Florida, and Wes was familiar with the facility through the exploits of its chief instructor and owner, Reno air racer and airshow pilot Thom Richard. He picked a weekend during his first couple of weeks at school and made the trek to Kissimmee to offer his time as a volunteer to do something — anything — to get involved.

“The first day I started, I walked in and somebody handed me a bucket and mop, and I started scrubbing the floor,” Wes recalls. “That was pretty much all I did for the first eight or nine months, because I could only work on weekends.”

Later, when his class workload reduced a bit, Wes was able to volunteer more often during the busier weekday operations and began to reap the rewards of his hard work, especially when Thom began spending more time in the hangar during his off season from airshow flying.

“Once I started working with Thom, he kind of took me in and I started working more directly with him and on the airplanes,” Wes reflects.

Under Thom’s tutelage, as well as that of chief mechanic Bryan Costa, his involvement and opportunities for more hands-on aircraft work snowballed while he continued to attain additional ratings at school.

Wes knew that to obtain his dream of flying warbirds — and specifically fighters —he would need to accumulate as many tailwheel hours as he could. Once he passed his CFI checkride in early 2019, he began promoting the idea of his working at the school and instructing in its Citabria, a campaign that paid off. Wes began racking up as much tailwheel instructing time as he could.

Finally, in March 2021, Wes received his CFI checkout in Warbird Adventure’s T-6s.

At the Triple Tree Fly-In, six months after his checkout, he had already logged 150 hours in the T-6 and is one of the busiest instructors at the school.

What are his plans for the future?

“I eventually want to move up into fighters and bombers and expand my warbird experience, as that’s my life dream,” he said.

As for a career, he is contemplating either flying cargo or for the airlines.

It would certainly seem that Wes is well on his way to achieving at least his first goal, as he recently obtained a Second-In-Command (SIC) checkout in the North American B-25 bomber.

Wes’s story is an inspiring one that shows that not only are there still motivated young people entering the field of aviation, but also that with enough perseverance, you can obtain the loftiest of dreams even from the most modest of beginnings.