You Can Fly: ‘Tweety’ launches North Texas flying club

“We’re a very young club so a lot of this is brand-new to us, but we couldn’t be more pleased with how well things have started,” said Thomas Barry, secretary/treasurer of the club founded on January 1, 2017. It’s named for a local general aviation pilot who introduced many young people to flying—including Barry’s 17-year-old son, Tyler—before succumbing to cancer last year.

The club has a hangar at Hicks Airfield (T67) in Fort Worth, Texas, and flies N150UC, the yellow trainer members have nicknamed Tweety. Dues are $250 a year, and members pay $35 an hour (dry) to fly.

Barry said the airplane is holding up well in the demanding training environment. “Aviat’s called to check up and see how things are going,” he said, “but there’s really not a lot to say because everything’s working fine.”

The Barrys recently made their first father/son cross-country flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and back. The experience was an eye-opener for the nonpilot dad.

“As the grownup, I’m used to being in charge and I’m not shy about telling him to speed up or slow down when we’re in the car,” he said. “But in the airplane, our roles are reversed. I do my best to sit on my hands and shut up. I’m just in awe.”

The club is one of 49 AOPA has helped start in the past two years. AOPA Texas Ambassador Pat Brown worked with the club to help it launch. “From the very beginning, there was something special about their vision,” he said. “I never met Nate Abel, but I sure wish I had. He was a very impressive young man.”

Barry said the club is focused on flight training, and bringing pilots who have been away from aviation for many years back to flying. The key is making it affordable and sustainable, and club members believe they’re doing both.

The club had a fundraiser on Memorial Day, and members participate in youth events such as EAA’s Young Eagles program.

Tyler Barry plans to enroll in the University of North Dakota’s professional pilot program in the fall. He and his dad will remain active in the flying club they helped start.

“I’m knee deep in club activities now, and I’m going to stay that way so that others will have the same opportunities as my son,” Tom Barry said. “It’s a very young organization, but Tyler is part of its legacy, and so am I.”

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