About Us
Bay Aviation pilots are skilled at flying all sorts of warbirds! Here they are flying a Ryan PT-22 and Stinson OY-1 owned by the Commemorative Air Force. Join in the fun and fly with us in our 1943 Fairchild PT-19! Read below for a brief intro to our chief pilot!
ABOUT THE PILOTS:
Michael Kuhnert is the chief pilot and owner of Bay Aviation. Michael, originally from Berlin, Germany, is a former yacht delivery captain with over 80,000 offshore miles. He began to fly in 1997, then worked as a Part 135 commercial charter pilot and earned his flight instructor certificate. He has over 8,000 hours of flight time logged, over 3000 of which come from flight instruction. Michael is a member of the Commemorative Air Force as well as the Operations Officer for the Old Dominion Squadron based in Franklin, VA. He is the instructor pilot and check pilot for the squadron’s Ryan PT-22, Fairchild F-24/J2K-2. and Stinson L-5 aircraft. In addition to flying these aircraft, Michael flies both the Forgotten Heroes Foundation’s Fokker Dr. 1 and Nieuport 17 aircraft. He is also a CAF senior pilot with airshow performer privileges and holds a formation flying card for waivered show airspace. In addition to his vast experience in tailwheel and Warbird aircraft, Michael has a commercial seaplane pilot license, seaplane instructor rating, as well as his CFII rating. Over the years Michael has provided more than a thousand passengers the unique and unforgettable experience of an open-cockpit warbird ride at his home base, Hummel Field, and at various air shows in the eastern United States.
Thomas Hendrickson is a pilot and ground instructor for Bay Aviation, piloting both Bay Aviation’s Cessna-172 and PT-19 aircraft. Thomas is the chief corporate pilot for Dozier Enterprises, LLC; flies for the non-profit organization Pilots N’ Paws, an organization which provides flights to animals needing transportation to foster and adoptive homes; as well as flies for the Old Dominion Squadron chapter of the Commemorative Air Force, piloting the squadron’s Fairchild J2K-2 and Stinson L-5 Sentinel aircraft. Thomas has also piloted the Forgotten Heroes Foundation’s Fokker Dr. 1 aircraft. Thomas has designed and taught aviation ground school courses for the Civil Air Patrol-Air Force Auxiliary, as well as for the Toano Middle School Aviation Club. Thomas was a 2017-2018 recipient of the Virginia Department of Aviation’s Educator Grant, which was used to buy E6Bs and plotters for a series of lessons on aerial navigation for the Toano Middle School Aviation Club. When Thomas isn’t flying, he is a special education math teacher at Toano Middle School. He holds a master’s degree in special education research from Old Dominion University and is a published education researcher.
An article through the PBS digital platform Next Avenue about Pilot N’ Paws featuring Bay Aviation pilot Thomas Hendrickson can be found at http://www.nextavenue.org/when-dogs-cats-and-even-hamsters-fly-for-new-lives/ An article in techdirections STEM education magazine about aviation education written by Thomas Hendrickson can be found at http://www.omagdigital.com/publication/?m=6340&l=1
Garrett Hendrickson is our part-time commercial pilot who began flying when he was 14 years old. He received all of his civilian flight training and ratings through Bay Aviation. His initial flight training was in the PT-19, and he’s now certified to fly multiple warbirds and modern military aircraft. After graduating from the College of William & Mary, he worked as a consultant for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C., before joining the military. Garrett is an unrestricted Naval Aviator – qualified to fly both fixed wing and helicopters – and is an active duty military pilot, flying the MH-60T Jayhawk full time for the United States Coast Guard.