Thank you for visiting our site. Read Our story below and make sure you read to the end to find out how we came up with the interesting name for our website.

This site is dedicated to my son, Ethan, and all the hard work he put in to become a commercial airline pilot. Ethan’s journey to become an aviator began at a very early age. He was inspired by his grandfather Tom, who was a Marine fighter pilot in Vietnam. Tom shared his passion for flying with Ethan every chance he could and Ethan became hooked.

Being a tech geek, I thought this kid needs a flight simulator. So, by the time Ethan was 8 years old, he was flying Microsoft Flight Simulators. As he grew older, the flight simulators became more advanced and we improved his set up, adding more monitors and faster computers. He would spend hours and hours flying that simulator.

In his teens, Ethan attended several camps and various classes and began taking lessons to become a private pilot. He read and studied any sort of manual or online course he could get his hands on. He also was able to attend a junior flight academy sponsored by a local church organization that enabled Ethan to fly a real airplane for the very first time. By age 16, Ethan had is private’s pilots license and continued to fly as much as possible.

During college, Ethan made a very important decision that would set the course for his aviation career. Already a certified EMT, he began college as a pre-med student on the path to become a doctor but soon his passion for flying would win out and his quest to become a commercial airline pilot would take off.

At the age of 20, Ethan was accepted into the JetBlue Gateway select program. (he was actually accepted into both JetBlue and Southwest programs but chose JetBlue because at that time, they guaranteed him a job after graduation). So, we moved him to Arizona where he began his training.

Already having is private pilot’s license enable him to complete the program in about a year in a half, so by the age of 21 Ethan was ready to be a commercial pilot for Jet Blue, but he still needed 1500 hours and he the minimum age for a commercial pilot was 23, so he had to wait. Luckily, the program transitioned graduated students into instructors while they were building hours and, in Ethan’s case, to get older.

Ethan was hired on by the school as a flight instructor, and began training other students that came into the program. To build his hours as quickly as possible, in his spare time, he also gave flight lessons to individuals that were trying to obtain their private pilots license. During this time, Ethan continued to work on his own skills and add to his qualifications and ratings. He achieved his twin engine certification and was now flying both single and twin prop planes.

At the age of 22, Ethan was promoted by the school and became an instructor to the instructors, where he held daily classes and flight instruction for the team of trainers at the school. During this time, he was able to achieve his 1500 hours of logged flight time. Now, he just had to wait until he turned 23. His goal of becoming a commercial pilot for JetBlue was in sight!

Shortly after turning 23, Ethan got the letter he was waiting for. JetBlue extended the invitation for Ethan to join them as a First Officer and begin their initial certification program in Orlando Florida. During the course of the training, Ethan spent many hours in the simulator where one of his instructors in the program remarked how well Ethan knew where all the switches and gauges were located. This was due in no small part to his many years of flying Microsoft Flight Simulator as a child and teenager.

After several months of training, Ethan graduated the program and was officially a JetBlue. In August of 2023, at 23 years of age, Ethan became the youngest pilot ever hired by JetBlue. I’m not sure, if he remains the youngest to this day, but to us, that is a very impressive accomplishment and we are so proud of his achievements.

Ethan now flies regularly for JetBlue and absolutely loves it. He is doing what he loves and loving what he does. He is a great human being and we can’t be more proud of him. If you are lucky enough, maybe you’ll get to see Ethan one day piloting your next JetBlue flight.

Oh, yeah, about the name of the site….

Pethanator. That was the silly nickname I gave Ethan when he was very little. There isn’t much that rhymes with Ethan, so I called him “Ethan Pethan” and as he grew older I began calling him the Pethanator. It didn’t really mean much at the time. But now, I see it has very fitting. I see the “P” is for pilot and the “ator” is for aviator. Pilot Ethan the Aviator. Silly, right, but now you know.