Music & Aviation: a Perfect Harmony

By Joshua Homet

In my parents’ recollection, my interest in airplanes was evident even before I could say the word. They would catch me looking up anytime a small aircraft buzzed overhead or when I caught a quick glimpse of an airliner cruising between the clouds. From the earliest grade school projects asking what you wanted to be when you grew up, I only ever had two answers—professional pilot or storm chaser. As one could imagine, my parents were only really keen on encouraging one of those aspirations. An early memory that really set the hook for me was when my family took a US Airways flight to an extended family event. This was in the pre-9/11 era when flight crews were much more accessible before and after flights. My dad had the forethought to introduce me to the captain as the flight was deplaning. Once I announced my interest in becoming a career pilot, the captain graciously showed me the cockpit and excitedly explained what my future could look like.

Another passion of mine from an early age was music. My parents stressed the importance of participating in music throughout life to me and my two siblings. When the time came in fourth grade, I selected the alto sax. I played this for concert band and participated in the school’s chorale throughout my middle school years. Once in high school, I switched to playing tenor sax for concert, marching, and jazz band. In my senior year, I was honored to be selected as drum major in the marching band. On the vocal side, I was in chorale, competition choir, and a high school show choir that toured the region, performing over a hundred shows each year. Among my favorite musical endeavors, though, was my three years in a men’s a cappella group. In my senior year, we even got to perform on the grand staircase of the Pennsylvania State Capitol building. For more than a decade, I’ve been playing the Cajon, an acoustic and very portable drum box.

As a sophomore in high school, I had the opportunity to begin my general aviation journey in the iconic Piper J-3 Cub at a nearby private grass strip. This solidified my career goals and made me serious about aviation. In the fall of 2004, I started my Bachelor’s degree at Western Michigan University. I was able to get my tailwheel endorsement back home, flying the Cub during breaks. By summer 2008, I had my degree, commercial single/multi, and my CFI/II. I even managed to get my single-engine sea rating before graduating. If you ever get the chance to fly on floats, be sure to take the opportunity.

At this point, it was time to start building hours. I began with some independent flight instructing, discovery flights, and scenic flights. My first real break came in the form of an aerial survey job. On Halloween 2009, I traded my car keys for the keys to a C-172. It had no autopilot, poorly working radios, and went through two vacuum pumps during the season—but it was mine. It still seems wild to me that they were willing to give a 22-year-old an airplane, communicating only via phone and email until I brought it back home eight months later. I saw 18 different states during that time, completing photography contracts for mostly local, state, and federal agencies. The flying was very unconventional and proved to be a great teacher of all things aviation. Each contract only provided a location from management, and we were personally responsible for all the lodging, transportation, and aircraft maintenance to complete each project. We gained experience flying over restricted military bases, flying opposite the traffic flow in busy Class B airspace, and encountering all manner of situations that would normally result in a violation from the FAA. The highlight of the season was being asked to fly down to the Gulf Coast in spring 2009. The terrible Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill had just occurred, and I was tasked with taking pictures of the shoreline as the oil slick approached land. Once completed, I flew back up the coast to upstate New York and returned the airplane. many more years of flying around the world in these incredible aircraft.

A few months later, I started the next part of the adventure as a “freight dawg” in Michigan. I went from a C-172 to the right seat of a ~60,000lb-capable twin-engine turboprop with 4,000HP per side. It was a wild ride, to say the least. I finally cut my teeth flying a pressurized aircraft in the flight levels. Years later, the Convair 580 served as my first PIC type and taste of being a captain. This certainly prepared me well for the jet world. I hauled so many strange things throughout my seven years there, not the least of which was the largest saltwater crocodile in the Western Hemisphere named “Baru.” You can still visit him today at the Toledo Zoo.

For the last seven years, I’ve been flying for Flexjet, a fractional ownership corporate jet operator. I started as a first officer in the Embraer Legacy (now Praetor) and, since 2020, have been a captain in the Gulfstream G-450. I still look forward to

Back in 2009, to my surprise, I saw the announcement of a new non-profit organization joining my two passions: aviation and music. The Flying Musicians Association was looking for founding members to help get the organization off the ground. I jumped at the opportunity and signed up right away. In the early grind years, John Zapp (the founder) and I attended various aviation events like Oshkosh to pitch FMA to the general aviation world. We’ve enjoyed playing music with members from around the world, all while being around airplanes. What a great combination! One of the goals from the beginning was to provide scholarships to help pay for flight training. For the last 10 years, we’ve been able to realize that goal by awarding high school juniors and seniors with flight training scholarships through their first solo flight. Please check out the FMA Solo program and donate if you’d like to partner with us in helping invest in these kids’ dreams. For 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of helping encourage the next generation to get excited about these two rewarding passions. My dream of being a “Flying Musician” has been more amazing than that little boy ever imagined while pointing up at the clouds all those years ago.