The road to the left seat
A pilot with a passion for grass-roots aviation
Instead of going straight to college after high school, Brielmaier decided to join the U.S. Navy and deployed twice on a destroyer. Upon learning that his next deployment wouldn’t be for another four years, he discharged, went home to Virginia to marry his high school sweetheart, moved to Florida, and enrolled in Delta Air Lines’ Propel Pilot Career Program. The timing couldn’t have been worse, though, because the industry went into a decline and Brielmaier realized that “there would be no job waiting for me at the end,” and that he “needed an adult job for a while.”
The family relocated to Texas, where he worked for Continental’s Uvalde Proving Grounds, a testing facility for car tires. But he wasn’t done with aviation. While in Texas, he got his commercial helicopter certificate, but ultimately decided to take time off to dedicate himself fully to aviation. He enrolled at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in aviation in May 2024, and is looking forward to finishing his Master of Science degree in aeronautics and aviation safety in early 2025. Being an adult learner at 40 years old with an 8- and a 4-year-old at home and a 215-mile commute every day posed some challenges for everyone involved. “I honestly couldn’t have done this without my parents and my wife. My parents helped me and encouraged me all the way, and my wife is incredibly supportive,” he said.
Brielmaier currently flies out of Horse Feathers, an unattended, private grass strip in Midland, Virginia, and he enjoys the camaraderie of the other pilots on field. Every Wednesday, a crowd gathers for friendly aviation talk and some flying. He’s also involved in restoring an RLU-1 Breezy with a friend.
At the same time, Brielmaier is plotting the next steps in his aviation career and thinks about flying for a Florida outfit that takes passengers from the Fort Lauderdale area to islands in the Bahamas and beyond, operating Cessna Caravans on floats. It’s not going to make him rich. “We don’t need much,” he says. 
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